Ever since the first mobile browser there has been a massive chasm between what a full blown browser can do and what your phone browser can do...

...until now.

The typical problem with the mobile browser is that it requires a stripped down version of a web page. Full blown html/css layouts appear broken and are often unusable. Not to mention that flash doesn't work.

Because of this designers/developers have either created "smart" css pages based on device or they have created mobile versions of their sites all together.

Enter skyfire - a beta browser that takes surfing on your mobile phone to incredible heights. Open it up for the first time and you immediately sense its power. Navigate to your favorite website and watch it magically appear before your eyes - not just the copy and a few images, but the entire site in its correct html/css layout.

Now the problem we run into is that most phones have very small screens with inadequate resolution to handle this new power. Not a problem - skyfire has added a smart zoom feature so you can choose a section of the site to zoom into. Once at the correct zoom level you can access buttons, text entry fields and other page elements. This until phones start adding screen real estate and better resolution.

The Biggest Difference
However, the most incredible thing (to me) about this browser is that it supports flash.

This is HUGE friends!!!! I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this. Flash entered the progressive download and streaming video field with force and yet the mobile world didn't recognize its importance fast enough. Before you knew it sites like YouTube had millions of viewable clips that the mobile world couldn't access. In fact YouTube even had to create a separate set of video clips (in a different format) for the introduction of the original iPhone just so that phone could use the content. Since then YouTube has even added a mobile version of their site so that I can view clips on my phone using Windows Media Player.

But once Flash is available on phones and other mobile devices all this work will be for not. We can go back to watching the original flash version of the clips (Incredible storage savings for YouTube...)

In Summary
One of the first things I did with skyfire was to go to gccwired.com and try viewing a flash video clip from our media player. The next was to try watching our streaming service. Both worked and the phone/browser combo actually kept up with it. Amazing!

Of course there are kinks to work out. My phone has a hard time controlling audio in skyfire due to my phone (Sprint Motorola Q9c) not having external volume buttons. Because of this I have to zoom into the actual volume control on the website and try to drop the volume.

But for a beta browser these are small things that will only get better when viewed on more advanced phones.

HUGE things are possible because of this browser technology. I can't wait to see what happens next...

Just a quick post for those who attended my Casual Q&A sessions during Innovate08. I promised you some information so here it is:

Web Streaming

• Video encoding software (see list of tools below)
• Vendors for streaming video (see list of tools below)
• Our current Streaming Video Settings: 640x360 | Deinterlace on | 750kbps max stream | 15 frames per second | 80kbps stereo (audio)
  

RSS / Podcasting

• Blog software (see list of tools below)
• Blog readers (RSS aggregators): Bloglines, Google Reader, Modern browsers like IE7 and Firefox3, Outlook 2007

Good Info for Both Groups

• List of helpful tools
  

I'm sure this isn't a complete list so hit me up for more information if you need it.

Important clarification: This post will come across as materialistic. But think about it in terms of ministry impact and keeping up with technology. If we wait until something is tried and true we'll always be playing catch up. It's like saying, "Let's start using DVD's now that the market has fully accepted them." Only to realize that Blu-ray has already secured that market for the near future and we are one step behind.

Being an early adopter has both benefits and drawbacks. On the one hand you are ahead of the curve but you also experience the pain being on the 'bleeding edge.'

That said, let's talk toys and tools:

The Computer: I hear people saying, "Duh! Did he just say computer?" Yes, I did, but I really meant notebook. In today's economy portability is to be desired. Any more there isn't a huge difference between the price of a desktop and that of a notebook. So why not be able to take it with you?

I still love a good desktop with two large monitors for graphic and web design, but the majority of my life resides on the notebook.

I won't get into the Mac vs. PC thing here so I'll leave it at: I love my Dell Latitude D830 for the day-to-day and I'd love to own a MacBookPro for my HD video (iMovie)...

As for what to have on your computer. See below...

The Browser: I've been hopping between IE and Firefox for the past few years but recently switched completely to the Mozilla product: Firefox3 which is amazing. I think what finally persuaded me was the way Mozilla attempts to make your life easier. Sure IE7 has begun to offer add-ons but Firefox was built upon this concept and in my opinion leads the way in this area.

I can't live without the FF3 developer extensions for CSS and XML, the extension that syncs my bookmarks (favorites) between my desktop and laptop and the extension (PicLens) that allows any online photo gallery to become a picture wall that I can easily scroll through without waiting for page refreshes. This along with color picker and measureit tools make developing websites much easier.

The Software/Apps: If you do what I do you can't live without Adobe Products. Of course it hurts to say that given the fact that I was a hard core Macromedia fan. But it's all good now. Whether a graphic artist or a web designer these are almost a non-negotiable. My faves are Dreamweaver, Flash and Fireworks.

You obviously need MS Office 07 with the 'ribbon' menu layout, the cool new smart art feature in Word07, Outlook07's powerful upgrades (still the best all around email tool in my opinion) and OneNote07 which makes taking notes and organizing between notebook and desktop a breeze.

Throw in the following apps (both online and downloadable) and you're golden:

• Blogger: Makes blogging as easy as flossing - for free.
• Bloglines Beta: RSS aggregator that will revolutionize your life! (no, I don't work for them...)
  
• TweetDeck: For managing all your Twitter needs.
• TwitPic: For taking picture on your mobile phone and easily sending them to Twitter (tell people what you are doing in real time) - simplest way to let people immediately 'see' exactly what you are seeing at any given point in time.
• Facebook: Just to remain connected to all your peeps - and to create/send Pieces of Flair...
• Adobe Media Player (AMP): For those of you dabbling in flash video (largely becoming the online standard) you'll need something to watch your FLV files in. Built for the Adobe AIR platform which has some really cool apps. These run on your desktop, but interact as if they were running inside a browser.
  
• SmugMug: Need a place to upload all your favorite pictures for safe keeping and sharability?
• Music: iTunes or the Zune Marketplace. Take your pick. I chose Zune - love the subscription service. I can try anything and everything for one price.
• Digsby: If you need to keep IM, Twitter, Facebook and other accounts organized and in one place.
• SocialThing: Still in beta so you'll have to beg to try it out. But when it goes live it might just take over the world :)

The Camera: I've dabbled with photography over the years but I'm still a little on the 'green' side. I have the Nikon D40x because I like the smaller body style and figured it was a good middle of the road camera for learning on.

But none of that really matters. What does is that it's digital, takes large pictures (8-10 megapixels) and can shoot in RAW/NEF format which gives you crazy control over them in the future. IMPORTANT! If you do this, make sure you have the Adobe Bridge software (ships with some of the larger Adobe packages like Web Premium) which makes these images viewable and allows you to easily edit them.

Storage becomes an issue when you start taking a lot of digital pictures (especially when shooting in the RAW/NEF format). You NEED a backup plan! Mine is currently this:

• Transfer to desktop hard drive
• Copy these to external hard drive
• Upload to SmugMug (easy to share with friends and safe in case the first too solutions crash)
• Delete off camera (SD card)

The Video Camera: Go HD or the future will smack you in the face :)

I recently purchased the Sony HDR-SR11 HD camcorder with 60GB hard drive, 10MP camera and 5.1 surround in an attempt to keep up with the HDTV revolution.

Here's the problem. Not only is analog going away in February 2009, but in the very near future you'll only be able to buy HDTVs. This means all that footage you've shot on the non-HD camcorder (640x480) is going to look bad on the new TV (which wants at least 1280x720).

Better to start shooting now in HD and save those memories on something that will look great in the future. However cost is an issue (most HD camcorders are between $800-$1500).

Another thing to keep in mind is storage space. You thought digital pictures were hard to keep up with - wait until you start taking HD video! I'm still working out the details on that backup plan...

The HDTV: Currently watching Samsung 50" Plasma 720p.

This technology is fast approaching which means I'm trying to get in on the ground floor and ride the elevator. But that means fairly significant costs up front.

Not only are HDTV's expensive ($1000-$4000 for the type 'normal' people would own) but you also have the additional associated costs that come with cable, HDTV programming and a HD DVR (Tivo or equivalent).

However there is nothing like Discovery Channel in HD and playing back your home videos from your HD camcorder will blow you out of the water.

My HDTV doesn't have a network jack, but look for this in the near future. You'll want one as IPTV takes hold. You will be able to watch streaming content from the Internet right on your TV!

The Phones: Want to stay connected to all the other stuff in the palm of your hand? You'll need one of the more complex phones available to day like the Samsung Instinct (pictured), the Motorola Q9, the HTC Mogul or the iPhone to name a few.

These phones not only allow you to talk to people, they also bring all your other work or personal information to you. These sync with exchange servers so your email, calendar and contacts are available on your phone. You can surf the Internet, text, twitter and Facebook all from the phone.Some even have geolocation and navigation features via GPS.

I currently use the Motorola Q9c through Sprint. All the above can be yours for $69.99/mo. on the Simply Everything Plan.

However please use restraint. More people each day are getting into serious car accidents trying to take pictures, talk on the phone and Twitter all simultaneously...

In Summary
This post is a stinking book! Hopefully I broke it up well enough so you could easily find parts that interest you.

Don't be afraid of technology. The majority of the stuff I purchased for personal use, but there is a huge crossover in what I do for the church. From the digital pictures to the HD video we're daily working with the stuff trying to leverage it for His Kingdom.

If Satan is using technology to make things darker - We need to use it to turn up the light.

I killed it. That little widget in the sidebar that used to give updates on the abc show LOST.

Just isn't as fun having it around when there is nothing new about LOST till next season.

Still a great show - just need something new in my sidebar.

Yes, Twitter is taking over the world - at least the world I live in.

When I first learned about it and saw how people were using it I simply dismissed it as one more thing to check and stay up on. In my world this would mean blogging, reading blogs, managing the Inbox, managing Facebook and now Tweeting? So I wasn't very interested at first.

Then I learned that Twitter would automatically update my Facebook status. So prior to my SXSW trip this year I signed up so I could do Facebook status updates from my MotoQ9c on the fly. This worked well, but was just the beginning. After using it for the week I quickly learned the "power of the tweet."

I'm still a newbie but here are a few of the perceived benefits:

1. Status Updates: Basically what Twitter is, but also able to update your Facebook status remotely from your cellphone.
2. @replies: Simply add "@friendsTwitterUsername" in your tweet and it will show up on that person's page - similar to replying to an email.
3. Instant, Generic Communication: Instead of having to text or email a group of people, you can simply send a tweet and anyone following your Twitter will receive the communication.
4. Share Your Crazy Captures: Couple Twitter with a simple application like TwitPic and you are able to snap a picture on your phone then easily include it in a tweet as a link. One of the fastest ways to communicate a real-time personal experience.

Call it mini-blogging, texting on steroids or just the next version of mass communication. Either way it rocks and has definitely found it's place on my list of tools.

Day two had the bulk of the content and day three was the wrap up final session. Here are some specifics:

Opening Session (Curtis Simmons): Curtis did a great job walking us through both newly released functionality and what is right around the corner. It was good to hear about the architecture restructure that will allow for increased access to data through the coming API and CMS features. Ftech is wanting to be 'all things technical' for churches and yes, that includes managing and hosting their websites. With CMS a church will be able to develop templates and pull content right out of FellowshipOne and present it on the page. We're definitely heading in the right direction.

F1 Roadmap (Curtis Harris): Much of the same stuff presented in the opening session just with more detail and timelines.

LifeChurch.tv - Here, Now and the Future (Terry Storch): I love sitting in on session with this guy. Terry's heart beats for 'kingdom technology' and he shared a few of the projects currently underway at LifeChurch.tv. Internet Campus, OnePrayer and SecondLife are three of the biggies. Looking forward to hearing more from the LifeChurch.tv Team when the OnePrayer series hits.

CMS in FellowshipOne (Tim Hardy): Tim was great at walking us through the future CMS feature in F1. He not only described the idea and the way it would work, but also demonstrated by walking us through the process of editing pages and navigation. Sounds interesting for smaller churches. We currently use a CMS designed for us from the ground up. However, I look forward to the possibility of pulling in content with the RESTful API and presenting it on our pages. All sorts of applications come to mind...

Customizing Weblink with CSS (Tara Coulson): Simple and to the point, so why haven't I got in there and messed with it? It's called laziness. I just need to put it on the list and make it happen. FellowshipOne still uses an archaic css stylesheet to style their popup windows. So it will take a little work to find the right selectors, make the changes and then make sure that it hasn't completely destroyed the look of another popup using the same selector. Shouldn't be too bad though.

Evenings Activities (Friday): P.F. Chang's and a quick stop at IKEA.

Closing Address on Saturday (Randy Draper): Excellent choice. Randy has heart, humor and passion for church work. He encouraged us to NOT be the negative, angry tech person sitting behind the scenes. But to find the passion we need to laugh, love people, serve and find purpose in everything we do. Sobering and encouraging.

Saturday's Activities: Spend the next couple days with my beautiful wife (who decided to come on the trip with me). No solid plans, but I'm sure we'll find something to do in the big State of Texas.

Day one has come and gone in Dallas. Yesterday we did the following:

Presenters Meeting: Quick and to the point. Thanks for coming. This is where the computer will be. This is the clicker for your powerpoint. Now go and do a great job.

Opening Address (Jeff Hook, CEO): Jeff opened the conference with another summary on Fellowship Technologies history, place in the market and commitment to the vision of the church. He gave a short overview of what's coming in the life of FellowshipOne and offered a new (modified) version of the graph depicting the operating needs/processes of the church.

Data Integrity (Marie Armitage): Marie offered many best practices on how to maintain data integrity and elicited similar tips from attendees. Good to hear that we're on the right track.

Super Team (Granger Team): We presented on the development of our Super Team and how it has helped us with the use of F1 in our environment. The team outperforms the individual every time...

Weblink Integration (Curtis Simmons): I returned to this presentation in part because we have semi-integrated weblink on gccwired.com. Last year it was considered a waste of time to attempt such a thing. This year it was discussed as being the preferred method because of the control it allows over the user experience. Exactly why we put the time and energy into doing it in the first place :)

Evenings Activities: Cheesecake Factory and IronMan.

This week a group of us will be making the trip to Texas for the annual Dynamic Church Conference.

Six of us went last year and quickly found that your FellowshipOne (church management solution) knowledge can go from 0 to 100 in two days.

This year we've been asked to present on what we call the 'Super Team' - a select group of people that help to keep FellowshipOne running smoothly at our church. If you want to hear more about the team concept, meet us on Thursday and we'll try to fill in all the blanks.

It should be a good time. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the recently added features and what is on the roadmap for future enhancements.

See everyone there.

Until recently the communications department at granger has been 100% PC (Dell desktops and laptops for the most part). But we recently purchased a MacBook Pro. It isn't for one individual (though it sits on Jeanna's desk). Instead it serves the entire department as a media workhorse.

We had budget set aside for expensive software programs (required on a PC in order to edit and encode our video). But when we looked into it further, we realized iMovie could do it all as a stock program on the MacBook Pro. This, along with the ability to do fun Mac stuff (PhotoBooth) and open files from our printer in Mac-only formats made the decision a no-brainer.

With iMovie we can quickly pull in a clip we cropped out of the service with QuickTime Pro, add fades to beginning and end, add text titles if needed and then export for our media player. We can also upload to our YouTube Channel with one click (after setting it up right the first time).

Now I have to admit, I lean toward the PC just because of its range, the solid Outlook/exchange server functionality and the fact that much of it just makes more sense. But I love the fact that for pictures, video and other design needs the MacBook Pro fills the gap incredibly.

Because of this you should probably call me a 'cross-platform guy.' I don't get that passionate about either one because they both have their problems and they both do some things well.

However, if you are an evangelist for a specific side be prepared for an argument. I just don't get that mentality and can defend both as well as the next guy...

At some point I'll fill you in on how easy it is to use iMovie to import, edit and play AVCHD files off my Sony HDR-SR11 camcorder...

If you hang out with other Christians, there's a good chance you'll be asked the question, "What's your love language?"

This from the best selling book by Dr. Gary Chapman on the ways we accept love and show love to others.

It's popular and it isn't going away - probably because there is a high level of validity to his claims. So it got me thinking this week.

Could similar claims be made about the way people communicate on the Internet?

For the sake of argument, I'll say there is. I'll offer up a few examples to get people talking. We'll call them the 7 Internet Communication Languages (ICL's) to completely copy Dr. Chapman. But please don't get too hung up on the fact that I thought of 7 (the minute I hit 'publish' someone will comment that I missed a very important one...). So here we go:

The 7 Internet Communication Languages:

• The Electromailer: This person would still be using the US Postal Service for all its worth of email wasn't around. They realized the power of electronic mail and made the switch. This person chooses to send an email before communicating any other way. They would also be comfortable joining online message boards or forums that require you post questions and then wait for a response.
  
• The Realtimer: This person doesn't have the patience to wait on the dreaded send/receive cycle of an email. They are looking for an immediate contact or immediate answers to their questions. This person probably uses the phone a lot so they find similar speed when they use IM clients like AIM, Yahoo Messenger or Live Messenger. They may also take advantage of video conferencing solutions, IM with video cams or live chat on websites so they are interacting in real time.
• The Statusupdater: This person just wants to let everyone in the world know what they are doing at any given time. Tweets, Powncers and the like throw out little bits of information that others can either absorb or react to in limited ways. These people are often hard core texters. In fact many of these people actually update their status from their cellular phones and receive updates from others right on their phones as text messages.
  
• The Blogger: Bloggers, Typers, Spacers and Pressers live to write. They are most likely writers at heart, plan on writing books someday or just love to journal. They've found the perfect solution to take their passion to the next level and share it with the world. Communication is one way until people comment or connect with you via the contact information you provide.
  
• The J-Pegger: This person loves photography. Because of this they communicate by showing others the pictures they take (most often in JPEG format). Communication occurs when people comment on the picture or request to have or use them. J-Peggers like to Flickr, act Smug and kick the Bucket when it comes to uploading great images to the web.
• The Flasher: Something akin to the J-Pegger, but this person feels more comfortable with a camcorder. They take video footage or create media experiences and then share them with others (often in flash video format). These Tubers, Googlers, Vimeots and vSocialites make us laugh, cry, fight and yes blush... Communication happens in the form of text comments, video commenting and embedding.
  
• The Socializer: This person loves to network. It isn't enough to go out, meet people and add them to your Blackberry. No, you need to be connected online so you have complete access to the person. Facers, Spacers and qLifers do it all. They are quite possibly the masters of the black art of Internet communication. These social networkers may blog, update statuses, upload pictures/video, engage in live chat or IM and email all from within their application of choice.

I know it's just a start. But think about it. What is your Internet Communication Language? What Language do your friends speak?

Ponder...

I know. I know. You're probably thinking, "Why is this guy cluttering up his site by adding a widget for something that doesn't appear to match the content and direction of his blog?"

Well, I thought the exact same thing when I found it. My initial instinct was to pass it by since I'm typically against adding widgets to blogs. But then I changed my mind. And here's why:

1. I love LOST (warning: audio). I mean it's up there with my all time favorites like Friends (warning: audio), ER, Seinfeld and MacGyver (to take it back a few years). It's hard to call it the best show ever, but it's also hard not to. It takes television to the next level by combining humor, drama, suspense and science fiction to offer a roller coaster ride on the edge of reality. The widget offers some of the most interesting clips along with links to current news bites and fun facts about the show.
   
2. I am still trying to figure out how to leverage widgets for the cause. Aside from creating your own widgets from scratch (flash development) I'm trying to figure out if the online tools will allow me to create the widget (in flash probably) and then use their engine to create the widget functionality so it can be shared on pages, blogs, sidebars, etc. So adding the LOST widget is also a test of sorts to see what the functionality does and what it looks like on a site. My first thought is that it's too big for the sidebar, but if it were any smaller it would be hard to see/read. I'm pretty sure these can be created thinner - though they tend to grow in length when you do that. Just a trade off I guess.
   

My Search Results
Here is one site that charges for the creation of widgets:

• SplashCast (warning: audio)
• Just about any web developer will make you one at a price...
  

Here are some free ones:

• KickApps
• AdaptiveBlue
  
• Sprout
• Widgetbox
  

Summary
I love the widget concept. It offers you the ability to update important content in one place and yet have millions of viewable entry points all pulling the same content. It also allows people to use your controlled content in a way that means something to them (on their Facebook profile/page, as a post on their blog, in the sidebar of their blog, etc.). This 'viral' nature of the widget makes it highly useful as long as it can be designed well and leveraged correctly.

I'm leaning toward Sprout or Widgetbox at this point. I'll set up an account, do some design work in flash and see what comes of it.

Anyone know of a site with more punch? If so, let me know!

In a recent post (Reading Between the Lines) I talked about the Jing Project and how we'd soon be adding it to gccwired.com when appropriate.

Well, I finally got around to adding the first one - a two minute, fast-paced, how-to on setting up online giving. Hopefully it compliments the PDF process document that we already had out there. Go here and click on the 'How To (Video)' button in the right hand sidebar.

Pros: Video, quick and easy, short and to the point, visual rather than cerebral, free.

Cons: Only export option is a flash movie file (.swf). I'd love to have the ability to spit it out in a variety of formats including Flash Video (.flv). Would also like to be able to control audio better. The audio in our example is pretty low - so you'll have to crank up the volume. And finally - the embed code is fairly specific so if you're adding the .swf to a basic html page you'll need to make some small changes (specifically the 'allowScriptAccess' parameter).

Still to be determined: Life-expectancy of these videos and where else they might come in handy.

It's Jing-alicious...

If you have been around the web world for more than a month you know how important color is in the design process. In fact there are designers that spend their entire careers dedicated to researching and championing the 'appropriate' use of color when designing for print and the web.
If you are like me, you don't have an entire career to devote to color, but you'd love some quick and easy ways to use color well in your design work.

Here is one such tool: Kuler

It's a dumping ground for sweet color combinations. Look around, you just might find a cool palette for your next project.

For those of you that need a quick 'up to speed' lesson on what a favicon is, look at the image to the left.

The Blogger logo (White 'B' on orange background) is seen three times. The bottom one is simply an image, but the top two are 'favicons.' A favicon (short for 'favorites icon') is an image saved in a specific format (yourLogo.ico) to be used dynamically in specific ways. Three of the most common are:

1. In the address bar next to your URL
2. On browser tabs (now a big part of Firefox and IE7 functionality)
3. Next to the favorites link in your browser (when you add it as a favorite)

This used to be a more difficult process - requiring software to create the icon and save it in the right format. But thanks to a new online site you can do it in no time. And there is no reason (but laziness) not to add this to your site.

Favikon is a site that allows you to upload a graphic and save it as a favicon. You simply follow the steps, save the finished version to your desktop and upload it to the root folder of your website (the same folder that your home page lives in).

Finally, go into each page of your site and add the code provided in the last step into the 'head' section.

If you have thousands of individual pages (not dynamically generated from a template) this might be difficult. But one option is to just add it to your home page and top level pages that are right off the main navigation.

It's so easy there's no real reason to skip this step in the development process...

Problem: It's a Saturday. The forecast calls for severe winter weather during the night. And you want as many people as possible to be able to attend the three services scheduled for Sunday morning.

What would you do? Business as usual? Pray for better weather? Just accept that what happens, happens?

Or would you be willing to try something outside the box?

Opportunity: This is exactly what happened last weekend. And we decided to step out of the box. Instead of waiting until Monday morning to put up the streaming version of the message, we transcoded the 7:30 service Saturday night and had it uploaded by 3 a.m.

Next, a short email was sent to our enews mailing list letting people know if they were unable to make it to church, they could watch it online (on Sunday).

Kudos: Since this wasn't my decision, I can say (without being arrogant) that I thought it was very insightful. Those making the decision took the time to think outside the box, allow technology to solve a problem and in doing so endorse an element of our ministry that has been growing in popularity since it was introduced in January of this year.

The Stats: So this is how it all shook out with the streaming version of the message:

• Total page views on Sunday: 881 (compared to 237 the previous Sunday and 528 the previous Monday which is typically the first day the new message is available)
• Total page views from Sunday and Monday: 1672 (942 on Monday and Tuesday of the previous week)

A while back I posted on what a rating scale might look like for "blogworthiness." The BlogWorthiness Rating Scale (BWRS) as I called it was a way to categorize blog posts on things like the following:

• Significance: If the post appears significant or insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
• Relevance: If the post is relevant or irrelevant to the reader.
• Impact: If the post has the power to inspire/uplift the reader or if it is damaging/harmful to the reader.
• Validity: If the post is fact, opinion or completely inaccurate.

But there's another thing we can look at when it comes to blogging. For lack of a more imaginative term let's just call it "Shelf Life." In other words, how many people read it? How often do they read it? How long will they read it? Would they recommend someone else read it? Is the content rich enough to keep people coming back?

Maybe it looks something like this:

5 Read Religiously: Your blog has just the right combination of functionality, fact and fun. It hits the mark with your intended audience, is well written and has just enough of the real you in it to keep them wanting more.

4 A Literary Masterpiece: Your blog serves as your literary playground. You put pen to paper (or pixel to html page in this case) and people can't help but read, because it flows, inspires and should really be in a dusty old book too.

3 A Fun Distraction: Your blog definitely doesn't solve world hunger, but it's so funny that people keep coming back just to escape reality.

2 Too Little Too Late: Your blog may have started strong, but its either missing important elements or after a period of consistent blogging you backed off to the point where people stopped checking in.

1 A Flash in the Pan: Your blog may have started strong and then fizzled, it may have been missing so many important elements that people unsubscribed, there may have been too many posts for people to keep up with or maybe it just wasn't relevant to the average person.

Nothing scientific, I know, but it's just the way my brain works. Think big picture and the rest falls into place...

Podcasting has become a cheap and easy way to communicate your message - whatever that message is. In fact it's so easy there is no reason a church (for example) wouldn't jump at the chance of adding it to their list of ways to reach people with the ultimate message.

But it can be daunting to those without development experience. So here is a quick and dirty online tutorial:

1. Get yourself an MP3: Many churches today are recording their services. If you have it on CD that's fine, but it won't work online. You need to put the CD in a computer and import the content into a free program like iTunes. Once inside iTunes you can convert it to MP3 - the format that works well on the web. Here is a tutorial on converting files in iTunes.
   
2. Make them available: The next step is to get the MP3 files on the Internet. Many churches already have their MP3 files online so people can listen to them or download them. But in order to offer them as a podcast you will need to create an RSS Feed - which is nothing more than an XML file (example here) that lists each MP3's location with other information like the title, the length, the author and stuff like that. The good thing is that there is an easy way and a hard way to do this. The hard way is to write the XML yourself and then update this file every time you want to add or delete an MP3 from the podcast. The easy way is to create a blog (using Blogger, SquareSpace or TypePad) to create the podcast XML file for you. This is a great option because you can blog about each episode (or message) and just link to the MP3 file in that post. Then podcast aggregators like iTunes and Zune Marketplace will automatically be able to subscribe to the podcast, download the files into their respective libraries and be able to transfer them to an iPod or Zune automatically. How cool is that?
3. Get jiggy wit it: If you really want to take it to the next level, you can add your podcast to the iTunes Store and get a special URL to use on your website so that when a user clicks the link/graphic (that typically says, "Subscribe with iTunes") your computer automatically opens iTunes, takes you to the iTunes Store and opens the page set up for your podcast. Click the button that says "Subscribe" and you're in.

For more detailed information on podcasting:

• Making a Podcast (Apple/iTunes)
• Make a Podcast Feed from Blogger (About.com)
• Podcasting with TypePad (everything.typepad.com)

There are also many online services that will do all the work for you (for a small fee):

• PodcastPeople (for example)

Happy podcasting!

I have to admit, I couldn't remember WebDrivenChurch.com 1.0 looked like until I went to archive.org, typed in the URL and popped up the archived page. Call it the "light blue" template or the "flash" template. Either way it was pretty plain and yet it was a good start...

This version lasted from February 5, 2006 until August 23, 2006 - one week before I began my full time position at the church.

I found creative inspiration in my love for Macromedia Flash. I took screen shots of the timeline and a single layer in the timeline of from Flash 8 Pro and added header information to them. . Not sure where the light blue came from though. Ugh...

WebDrivenChurch.com 2.0 could be labeled the "green" template or the "wilderness" template. It took me from August 23, 2006 until November 18, 2007.

Not sure where my creative inspiration came from other than me looking through numerous designs on cssZenGarden.com and trying my hand at laying out columns using css for positioning. In this case I used the WDC logo as a static background image (doesn't move when the page scrolls). The main image is actually two separate images used as background images inside each column with large margins pushing the content down past the images.

I learned a lot on this round. Instead of modifying an existing template (like I did with version 1.0) I built this one from scratch using css and adding the classic blogger tags (example: <$blogger>) where they needed to go.

My only inspiration using the green and the wilderness scenes is that I grew up in Wyoming and this felt like "home."

WebDrivenChurch.com 3.0 is a step in the right direction for at least two reasons:

1. It simplified things: The layout is clean. It's Web 2.0 in look/feel. It's brighter than the previous version. It's wider layout allows for less overall scrolling.
2. It taught me new stuff: Blogger has since ditched the classic tags in favor of a new system (a much more complicated one) that I had to learn in order to create the layout. However, newer is better. I can now take advantage of new features like the archving tree and the ability to add "widgets" at will.

Creative inspiration: I downloaded a free template for blogger first called Green Marinee. This gave me the basic three column layout I was looking for. From there I used look/feel inspiration from a variety of other sites as I reworked the css to personalize it.

Other tweaks and changes:

1. New WDC logo.
2. New archive functionality based on the new blogger options.
3. Added a Label Cloud: The bigger the label the more posts are in that category.
4. Added a favicon.
5. Added Google Analytics versus StatCounter.
6. Added my picture (so you could put a face with the name...)

Hopefully this template will last me a few years...

I typically don't have time to respond to comments posted on my blog. I read them and often take suggestions from them, but can't get into the back and forth dialogue many of them require. However, there are times when a post generates a lot of comments/questions so I try to answer them all at one time in a follow up post.

In this case there were quite a few questions about the online media player and the subscription service that accompanies it. So here is are some extra details:

The Online Media Player:

• Rivals cutting edge players like those used by VH1 and ABC in terms of player layout and features offered (including channels, categories, playlists and send to a friend feature.
• Is totally dynamic and created completely in Flash with over 700 hours of development time invested.
• Is fully supported with excellent customer service.
• Has a simple Administration Panel allowing the user to add Channels, Categories and media items.
• Comes with free upgrades: All ongoing upgrades and tweaks are offered free to subscribers.
• Is designed to accept streaming video feeds directly from LightCastMedia (streaming packages sold separately) which allows larger and longer video clips to be used in the player. Adding a LCM streaming video is as simple as putting a video ID# from LCM into the Online Media Player Administration Panel.
• Has a monthly subscription cost so you don't pay for upfront development, ongoing development, hosting or storage.
• Allows you to present your created media in a cutting edge player in less than 24hrs.
• Allows you to stream full length messages, services, trainings, etc. in a player capable of displaying content in full screen mode (additional streaming service required).

Hopefully this helped answer some of the questions I saw in the comments. If you have other questions feel free to email me (see link in footer of this page) and I'll try to reply or post again if there seems to be groups of similar questions.