Adding Content To The Site

Essentially a web page made up of text and graphics.
Email me as follows;

  • To: andrewpay@narellancong.com.au
  • Subject: Narellan Church: Web Pages: ??????.
  • Body Text: Type or paste the text into the body of the email.
  • Attachments: Attach required photos

This seems very simple however problems will occur in the following areas.

The files are too large to email

This is a symptom of the many parts that make up the document. I am only concerned with the raw text and low resolution graphics. The following points should act as a guide.

  1. All files may be compressed into a separate archive before sending. Most people know the archive files as zip files, however there are other formats available. The best free zip utility for MS Windows is 7-Zip and can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/projects/sevenzip. .
  2. Select all the text in the document and paste into "MS Windows Notepad" and save in a text file e.g. 'myfile.text'. This will strip all photos and formating and save only the text.
  3. Keep all the photos in separate JPEG files. If each photo is still too large then see resizing images below.
  4. If you have specific layout ideas and wish to send the information in a file produced by an advanced publishing program then make a PDF file of the document. See making PDF documents.
  5. If you want a downloadable brochure than you have produced then make a PDF file of the document. See making PDF documents.

My email client keeps breaking

  1. This is very common with MS Outlook or Outlook Express. Your best solution is to use a different email client. Mozilla Thunderbird is can be downloaded from http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird. Get someone to help you set it up if you have trouble.
  2. Keep the critical Microsoft Windows service patches up to date.
  3. Ensure you have a working virus scanner.
  4. Stop using MS Internet explorer and switch to Mozilla Firefox for a higher level of security. Go to http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox for more information.
  5. Stop using MS Windows I did, go to https://help.ubuntu.com/9.04/switching for more information.

Choice of word processor

As I have said earlier, I only require a text file and separate pictures to make the web pages, however this is inconvenient when writing articles without advanced word processor functions.

  1. If using MS Word make sure you save the files in “Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP” format that has a “.DOC” extension.
  2. MS publisher format is not supported my most programs (except publisher). Make sure you save as “Rich Text Format” (RTF) or “Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP” or export to a text file. If making an attachment then make a PDF file (see making PDF documents).
  3. MS Works is used mostly because it came with the computer and MS Office is too expensive. Please save as “Rich Text Format” (RTF) or or export to a text file. If making an attachment the make a PDF file (see making PDF documents).
  4. In all case I recommend Open Office. Go to http://www.openoffice.org/ to find out more. Open Office can read and write MS Office files, is free and works on most computers.

Size of pictures

Most digital cameras today take very high quality images and therefore make very large files. Images should be reduced so that the largest dimension is 1000 pixels.

If you don't know what I am talking about don't worry, you could follow my instructions below or make a CD-ROM and give it to me at church.

  1. For MS Windows users here is an easy to use utility to reduce picture size: "Picture Resizer 4.0".
    • Download PhotoResize1000.exe from our site OR get the latest version from http://www.rw-designer.com/picture-resize and follow their instructions.
    • Save “PhotoResize1000.exe” on the desktop and double click on it.
    • Click the " ?? button" to add "??" to the content menu.
    • The program is now ready to use. Navigate to the folder that contains the pictures. Right click on a picture to resize and select "Resize Picture"
    • The resized picture will appear in the same folder with 1000 added to the name. e.g. "MyFile20.jpg" will make a smaller file called "MyFile201000.jpg"
  2. The picture editor that came with your digital camera may have a resize function.
  3. I use "The GIMP" http://www.gimp.org/ a free photo editor. Beware it takes a lot of getting used to.

PDF Documents

Reading PDF documents

PDF or Portable Document Format is now a common way of distributing documents. These documents can be read by a reader program, the most common is “Adobe Acrobat Reader”. Unfortunately the original Abobe Acrobat product is now bloated with features that most people don't want.

If you have “Adobe Acrobat Reader” installed to read your PDF document and are happy with it leave well enough alone. On MS Windows I recommend FOXIT READER it can be downloaded from http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/ .

Making PDF Documents

PDF documents are made by installing a program that appears to your programs as a printer. You select the PDF printer and print the document. The PDF writer will ask for a file name and presto your PDF file is made.

The best free PDF writer for MS Windows is PDF Creator and can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ .