March 9, 2009: New Software Update
Work continues on the new software. It is nearly to the point that congregations can start to use it. A demo site is up here. You will notice that some of the pages do not work yet. This copy of the software is over a week old, and most of those features are now working. Here is what is planned in the initial release:
Public Features
- Ability to post sermons. For the time being, it will probably be limited to date, title, speaker, and a single attachment (with a reasonable size limit - no 100MB Power Point presentations)
- Class listing. Attach handouts / course material for all Bible classes
- Bulletins - post present and archived bulletins. Chances are it will support multiple formats, though PDF is preferred.
- 4 templates to choose from. These are nicer and more modern that what are currently supported on CofCPages.org. At least 10 others are being worked on for future releases.
Members Area Features
- Photo and printable directories
- Visitor card database, as well as automatic e-mailing of selected members when a card is added
- Administrator interface to add and edit pages, users, directory, sermons, bulletins, etc...
Regarding Donations
Several people have asked me about donations, and I am changing my mind on how I want to handle these. In the past, I have passed over donations, since I am running several web sites, including a small for-profit business, from this web server. The costs are relatively low, and I don't mind using my time and funds to keep this site running. However, as the features of this software grow, and as congregations want to put more and more media online, I have to buy more server space - both space to store files, additional servers to handle the pages being viewed, and more 'bandwith' - that is, the ability to send large files to many viewers. In the very near future, I will be adding a donations page back. You can choose to send a small donation to support the site.
Finally, there are some additional screenshots of the new software here.
January 19, 2009: New Software on the Way
CofCPages.org is currently in the process of changing the software that drives each individual congregation. The current software will be completely replaced, and individual congregations will be moved over in the coming months. This new software was developed by a fellow Christian for use on his congregation's site, and it is well-written enough that it can be used for other congregations. Hopefully this will finally ad some features that have been missing for some time, including a member's only site, membership directories, visitor card databases, and more.
Check back here for more updates. Individual congregations will be contacted before the migration takes place.