ELCA Web and Multimedia Development Blog

Embed Video in Your Web site or Blog

2009-06-05T07:59:00.003-05:00

Let's say you have a Web site, but have no real way to place videos on that site. What do you do? You could host your videos on a site like YouTube or Blip.tv and just link to those videos. But why lead people away from your site when most of these video sites allow you to embed a player, with your video, on your own site?

Embedding a video is as easy as opening an account on any one of the popular video sites, and uploading your videos. When that is completed, simply copy the embed code that the sites provide and paste it into your site, wherever you would like the video player to be.

Here are my top five tips is searching for the embedded player that is right for you.

Does the player look nice? Is it unobtrusive and does it take away from the look of your site? Some video sites let you customize the color of the player.
Does the player offer your all the sharing links? You want others to be able to easily share your video to promote traffic.
Are there ads? If so, is there a way to turn them off, or opt out of them showing?
When the video is done playing, does the player recommend other videos that are not your own?
How is the quality of your video after you upload it? While I have not seen a video site mangle a video, some sites are definitely better than others in this area.

If you have and questions or comments, please feel free to post them.

Live Video Streaming Cheap and Easy?

2009-05-06T08:43:00.003-05:00

I just read an article at TechCrunch about a newcomer to the Live Streaming area, who is trying to level the playing field by offering something the competition doesn't: cheap live streaming services. If you have ever tried to live stream a meeting or are looking into it, you have probably noticed how expensive it is to stream live video at an acceptable quality rate.

Stickam is offering there services in a generic version called StreamAPI. They offer their services with no contract and no minimum use. You pay only for what you use. How much is that? Well, one level of service they offer comes out to just 45 cents per Gig.

Check them out and see if it is something you might be able to use!

CMS Expo 2009 Summary

2009-05-05T08:51:00.004-05:00

I want to thank you all who bore with me the extemporaneous posts that were really just notes from the workshops. I hope that these will be more of a reference to you in the future as you dive in to create your own Web sites.

Toward the end of the Expo, the workshops became more of a hands-on type, which made it hard to blog about. But please know that this expo was everything that it was advertised as being.

If you are at any level of competency, in any area from developer to administrator, there is something at the CMS expo for you.

So here are my main points I came away with.

Static Web sites are dead. The days of using Web editing software to update static Web pages are gone. If your content is not in a database, being managed by a Content Management System, you are not serving your visitors like they should be served. Interactivity is lacking. Up-to-date content is missing. And you may be losing page views.
Web Developers need to know CMS Development. If you are a developer or are responsible for the Web site for your church or synod, it would behoove you to know how to put some sort of CMS base Web site together. Now is the time to learn CMS development because the time is soon coming, if not here now, that your skill set may not be enough.
Open Source is the future. Joomla! and other Open Source Content Management Systems are more stable and robust than ever. There is a huge userbase for many of these OS CMSes that ensure their longevity. Many "logo" companies our opening keynote speaker Matt Asay said, are lookng to Open Source. And this downturn in economy has only boostered that switch. Come for the price, stay for the features!
I choose Joomla! as my OpenSource CMS. I say that because I know you want me to make a choice! But I must say that if you have a small site and don't need something so "enterprisey" WordPress is a fine solution. (I know it is a blog application, but it can be so much more! Look for my posts from the upcoming WordPress Camp in Chicago.) Joomla! has a huge user base. There are over 4,500 extensions that users have created to extend the features of Joomla! The forums and support groups are numerous.

"So what do I do now?"

This year, the churchwide office will be working on an ELCA template that you can easily import into your Joomla! site. If you do not have a site yet, or are not familiar with Joomla!, I recommend finding a class or user group in your area. If you are the "online learner" type, I would highly recommend the courses at Lynda.com. Joomla! 1.5 Essential Training is a great one. If you like to learn from a book, the CMS expo recommended Joomla! A User's Guide: Building a Successful Joomla! Powered Website.

One last thing. If you are able, I would highly recommend seeing you at the next CMS Expo, wherever it may be. Bookmark the Expo's site, and plan to attend the next one, whatever your job description or level of expertise may be.

CMS Expo 2009 - Day 3 Workshop I - Joomla Site Builder

2009-05-01T08:57:00.001-05:00

Establish a site purpose statement and goals.
Organize content correctly first.
Create a good site map.
Planning the Joomla structure.

Creating a dynamic site relies on content. In the old days of static sites, you could build out the site and menu, and just have the menu link to nothing and come back and link it later.

But that doesn't work with dynamic sites. You canbuild the structure of the site and what the menus might look like graphically, but the content must be there to generate the menu.

The rest of this workshop is hands on and handouts.

Joomla! Development I

2009-04-30T11:05:00.002-05:00

This workshop focused on getting your computer set up for local development. These notes may not make a lot of sense right now for you, but it may be a good resource for you in the future.

The speaker, Stephen Pignatro, suggested using the IDE from Aptana.

An IDE is a program that helps you develop and write code. A good IDE

• Projects
• Debugging
• Code Intelligence
• Class View
• Supports Multiple Languages
• Source Code Control
• FTP/SFTP Integration
• Database Navigation
• Integrated Web Browser

He recommended an SVN repository called BeanStalk. There is a free plan.

JImports is a library of Joomla code that is very helpful.

A great tutorial on docs.joomla.org explains a lot of this in more detail.

It gets very technical from here, so I think I'll end this post! :)

The Community Builder Component

2009-04-30T10:28:00.001-05:00

Components greatly enhance the Joomla platform. Community Builder (CB) gives a social networking ability to Joomla.

Jommunity and Joomsocial are other examples of social components.

But CB has been around since 2004. There is stability. Makes it a good choice.

Many core functions that you would find in social apps.

Registration workflow, email verification.

CB is such an established component, that you can find modules and plugins created for CB!

With CB subs, a part of CB, you can restrict access to portions of Joomla or even outside of Joomla by using URLs.

CB has created a template called MyCommunity that has CB mods in the template.

JoomlaPraise has CB templates.

There is a Privacy Plugin that let's users control what is seen in their profile.

Wip activities plugin let's people see others' activities on the site, like Facebook.

CB Paid Subscription System. Nice!

Keynote II - Wilco Jansen

2009-04-30T09:29:00.001-05:00

Wilco is from the Netherlands. He is currently a boardmember of Joomla and in the development workgroup.

Joomla is Swahili for "All Together."

Joomla user groups are popping up around the world.
140,000 english downloads of Joomla a month.

4,688 registered extensions for Joomla.

GPL is the key to growth.

If the community is not actively engaged in your project you will not survive. Look at Mambo, the CMS that Joomla forked from.

Plugged Open Source Matters.

Joomla! is a business, not a science project.

Keynote Address

2009-04-30T09:06:00.001-05:00

Matt Asay, from the Alfresco CMS, says that the downturn in the economy makes open source the right answer for right now.

Smaller initiatives fare better than larger projects do.

Open source is on a massive growth curve and is not a fad. Open source has gone mainstream.

85% of enterprises use some sort of Open Source.

So what does this mean to our proprietary vendors?
They are consolidating. Buying each other up. This means less choice.

Plus, watch who owns your content with proprietary vendors.

CMIS will open the content world as SQL opened the database world.

Follow Matt at twitter.com/mjasay

2009-04-30T08:39:00.001-05:00

Host of the conference, John Coonen

CMS Expo 2009 Day 2

2009-04-30T08:12:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was more of an introduction, and gearing up for what today has to offer. This is really Day One. My schedule today is as follows:

Breakfast - Now :)
Keynote Address
Community Builder, a Social Area for Joomla
Joomla Developer I
Joomla Template Design I
Joomla Administration

Complete schedule can be found here. http://www.cmsexpo.net/schedule.html

Tell your friends to tune in!

2009-04-29T14:17:00.001-05:00

Joomla! Kickstart Session

2009-04-29T12:40:00.001-05:00

Ultimate CMS Showdown - wordpress, drupal, And joomla!

2009-04-29T10:35:00.001-05:00

CMS Expo 2009

2009-04-29T10:21:00.002-05:00

Today through Friday I will be attending the CMS Expo 2009 to gain more knowledge on the Joomla! Content Management System. We in Communication Services hope to build an ELCA branded template for synod and congregational use. Many of you have been asking for something like this, and I am happy to say that the project is under way!

I will be blogging from the expo as I am able. This gives me a chance to try out my new Google phone!

Also, please follow me on Twitter for even more up-to-date info. www.twitter.com/lenmason

2009 Wilbur Awards

2009-03-28T19:49:00.002-05:00

After a wonderful dinner, awards were given out to communicators in the secular media that addressed religion in an exemplary manner. The RCC has listed all the winners (doc file).

DSC00420

2009-03-28T12:56:00.001-05:00

Free Time

2009-03-28T12:32:00.001-05:00

Walking around Beantowm, there are many cemetaries with graves of famous people.

At a Revolutionary War cemetary

2009-03-28T11:29:00.001-05:00

Workshop - Brand Therapy for Communicators

2009-03-28T09:44:00.002-05:00

Michele Levy explains and identifies common pitfalls in branding and how to fix them. If you attended this workshop and would like the presentation, download it below (PDF).

downloads/RCC0309.pdf

The Pluralism Project

2009-03-28T08:48:00.001-05:00

Saturday - Harvard School of Divinity

2009-03-28T08:43:00.001-05:00

The Pluralism Project. A conversation with Elinor Pierce, senior research director, and Kathryn Lohre, assisnt director.

DSC00401

2009-03-27T18:54:00.001-05:00

DSC00398

2009-03-27T18:51:00.001-05:00

DeRose Hinkhouse Award Ceremony

2009-03-27T14:01:00.002-05:00

We received an Award of Excellence for the ELCA website. The ceremony took place in the basement of the historical Trinity Church. The original foundation can be seen in the background. The RCC posted list of winners.

Trinity Church

2009-03-27T12:03:00.001-05:00