Basic Principles

Recently I've had two different clients feel that their sites are outgrowing their current hosting plans, either by running out of space or by loading... very... slowly...

Sometimes these problems are easily rectified with the current hosts or may be caused by a temporary glitch on the server computers that is quickly set right. However, if problems are consistent or if you are setting up your site for the first time I have put together some of the most common hosting solution that I offer to clients.

There are many hosting companies offering different solutions out there, this is simply my own experience of the ones I have found to be the best with a simple explanation of how some of the packages work. Also, this is by no means comprehensive and I'm really talking about hosting suitable for small to medium sites.

Shared hosting

In a shared hosting situation the hosting company puts many sites onto each server computer. This is the easiest, cheapest and most common way to get hosting.

The problem can be that the dodgier the company, the more sites are sharing the same system resources - which can result in a slowdown for your site if other websites on the same machine are working hard at the same time. It's very normal to have 100s of sites sharing one server and not unusual to have 1000s.

Ilisys: Ilisys is a hosting company out of Perth, WA that provides high-quality shared hosting and I have always found that they manage the resources of their servers quite carefully and don't overload them. They have excellent tech support and customer service, and they are also 100% carbon neutral if you care about that sort of thing. The business has been recently bought by MYOB so it will be interesting to see if that has any affect on their performance.

Reviews are a great way of adding user-generated content to any website, but what happens when your reviewers turn nasty and leave very critical comments? Not only does it reflect negatively on your own site, but here in Australia there can be legal ramifications.

The laws I am talking about are regarding libel, the written form of slander. It prohibits a writer from damaging the reputation of someone else, known as 'defamation', and the laws are designed to temper the power to falsely sway public opinion that an unscrupulous member of the press or other influential writer might have.

Neither freedom of speech nor freedom of the press are constitutionally guaranteed in Australia in the way they are in US. Instead, there are several acts under which civil or even criminal action action may be brought, with statutes in some jurisdictions providing for fines and even imprisonment for serious offences.

Most defamation cases are civil proceedings, often brought by politicians and corporations who consider someone in the media to have defamed them by publishing information critical of their activities.

Fair Comment

For defendants, there are several legal defences available but the most common for reviewers is that of 'fair comment' or honest opinion. The defence of fair comment is available if the comment or opinion is based on statements of fact which are true or commonly known and if it relates to a matter of public interest.

This protects most reviewers, even those that write negatively, if they express their opinion carefully and lay down a bed of facts before presenting their opinions.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Evangelism on the web

Evangelism is one of the most important parts of the church, and the internet can be used to help us with this task as much as the previous two uses mentioned.

Evangelism websites - like any other evangelism media - should be targeted at a specific group, meeting a need in a given community. If you've got a group in mind and you've thought of a fantastic way to reach them online, that's great. Be aware though, that starting an online ministry is a hard process if you don't have the real-world contacts to back it up. People won't visit your website unless they have a reason to look for it.

I guess what I am trying to say is – don't get confused into thinking that your church website has to be evangelistic, because it doesn't. Evangelism is a whole different sport.

Some things to think about if you're designing an evangelism website:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Building Community

“A true Web site is a gathering place – a watering hole that people
will go to so that they can meet other people who go there.”
- Leonard Sweet.

The internet is becoming a larger part of our culture. More than 50% of teenagers use the internet every day, with average usage for this age group at 1.5 hours per day. Gen X-ers, who are now well into their 30s and 40s, are also huge internet users, and even older generations are catching on.

My wife's grandfather bought a computer last year and in his mid 70s now browses the internet and uses email several times a week.

With more people spending more time online, it's no wonder that online communities are becoming popular.

Ebay is a good example. One of the largest internet companies, its user base covers all age groups, and part of its success is attributed not only to its buying and selling model but to the way it builds community. Through leaving feedback for others, posting in the forums or chatting in the “Ebay Cafe”, users interact with each other informally, sharing interests and building relationships.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Did you know that here in Australia we have 14 million internet users? In a country of 20 million or so people that's a lot. When you consider that a simple website can reach any of those people and costs less than a yearly ad in the yellow pages (in some cases it can cost nothing at all) it's an easy and important way for a church to express itself. The web is an opportunity that we should be taking advantage of, both as individual churches and as a whole.

In this series of short articles I want to talk about three ways that a church can utilise the internet through having its own website.

1. Advertising
2. Building Community (Covered in part 2)
3. Evangelising (Part 3)

 

1. Advertising

“The Internet is becoming the town square
for the global village of tomorrow.”
- Bill Gates

Here's an experiment. Unplug your mouse and monitor, and try to use your computer.

Even browsing the internet becomes next to impossible. Yet for many people who have sight problems or other physical disabilities, this is what they are faced with every day.

Our society is increasingly based around information, and the internet is by far our biggest tool for accessing that information. Many of us complete our education, get jobs, work, shop and play online, by filling in forms, typing our names and passwords, clicking buttons with the mouse and using keyboard shortcuts when we know them.

Making your website "Accessible" has come to mean "Making it easy for disabled people to access and navigate." Without sight, or perhaps paralyzed and unable to use a standard mouse or keyboard, many people use special software or hardware to help them move around the internet. An accessible site presents its design and content in such as way as to make it quick and easy for these special devices to navigate and present to the people using them.

Many of the websites I produce are dynamic. A lot of people don't know what this means - even the people I build them for - so I would like to give a simple definition and an explanation of when a dynamic site is needed and when it isn't.

Please note: this is a very simple explanation designed for people who are new to this concept. If you're after more, try wikipedia.

A simple definition.

The word 'dynamic' in this context means 'characterised by continuous change, activity, or progress'. In this way it can be applied to many things that display changing characteristics, for example 'it is a dynamic market'.

In the case of a website, to be dynamic means that content of the page has the potential to change every time the page is loaded.

For instance, a very simple dynamic site might show the time and date in the corner. This date stamp will automatically be updated every time a user loads the page so that it shows the correct date and time.

A website that is not 'dynamic' is considered 'static': every time it is loaded it will be the same.