Breath Of Life Online Ministry
 
OK, my next site fix project is to add a custom comment box to each media page so people can add their comments about the screensaver, wallpapers and cards. I'm using a custom script from HTML Comment Box.com I think it will work out very nicely and the author was very gracious to help me work out some of my bugs in the script. Once I decide how to configure it in the pages, I'll begin adding it throughout the site.

Edit: OK the comment box scripts are on all the pages I think they'll be useful on along with a rating script for the media pages. I expect this will work pretty well.
 
 
When we rebuilt the site, we started from scratch leaving all our old HTML behind. Unfortunately, that included individual descriptions of all our screensavers. I had postponed adding these because I felt there were higher priorities. I'll have to review some of them to be sure I give the right description so this will take a wee bit of time to do. But this is my next site fix...you may catch me in the middle of doing it and not find descriptions on some. I'm working on it now :-D

Edit: Done! Woohoo, that didn't take as long as I expected!
 
 
I've just noticed some variations in my default installation locations for the screensavers. So I'm going to put everything else on hold and get that corrected. I'll repackage them and make sure they all go to the same spot. Apologies for any confusion this might have caused.

Edit: Oh boy, this has turned out to be a bit deeper than I anticipated. Since I will need to repackage all of the screensavers, I've upgraded my installation packaging app and much thanks to the good folks at Excelsior for providing this awesome, free utility.

I discovered a problem with some of the screensavers, they were directed to the main Windows folder. The problem was with the uninstaller. Each screensaver has its own uninstaller but they all have the same name. So multiple installations to Windows overwrites the original uninstaller. So the problem this creates is if you have 10 screensavers you can only uninstall one of them. 

Sorry bout that if you've had this problem. You can easily uninstall it by just going to WINDOWS and deleting it, but the uninstaller is much easier.

So what I'm doing as I repack them is naming the uninstaller with the screensavers name and naming the Read Me text with our ministry name. This way I can safely do a direct installation into the Windows folder without writing over any vital files and it will make them available in both the Desktop Display Properties menu and in the Start Menu.

I'll have them fixed soon. If you have problems with an install or uninstall before I get them replaced just use our contact form and I'll help you straighten it out. 

Update: 

OK all of the screensavers have been repacked. By the time I figured it out, I ended up with an installation to individual directories in Windows. 

It turns out that even re-naming the uninstall files didn't help. And I couldn't isolate the screensaver to Windows and still allow for user defined installations. It would work fine for Windows OS's but it would've probably been really buggy for any other OS.

So from now on, in order to install them in the Display Properties menu, the user will have to do it by selecting install from the right click options on the screensaver icon. The Read Me file is modified with updated instructions and I think all the links are up and running now and problems solved, lol.
 
 
Before I get too busy adding stuff, I'm thinking to re-map the site a bit. I don't think the hierarchy is simple enough. I'll add a site map and cut the menus down a bit.

Edit: OK site is re-mapped. I think it will be a lot easier to navigate now.  I've summarized everything to a single "Media Center" and left it in the fly-out menu's under that heading. I'll see how that works for now. I think the Media Center will make things simpler and the fly-outs will make the rest of the media accessible from other pages. I'm a little concerned with the depth of the menu, though. I really tends to flood the page at mouse-over.

Edit again: I don't like the menu so I'm going to remove the individual media pages from it. I'll just add navigation buttons to go forward and back from each media page and leave it that way.
 
 
I'm adding another heading for greeting cards. All the screensaver previews will be linked from there and I'm including some cards from outside sources, too. I don't know if I'll go as serious with it as categories yet, I guess it will depend on the need.

You may have noticed that I'm bringing in some moderate advertising. I'm hoping to do this in a way that doesn't interrupt the ministry here and still provide some mutual support for our advertisers.

Edit: OK I've got the Greeting cards set up. I think they're all working now so I'm going to focus on the next idea now. 
 
Live and Pro! 09/25/2010
 
Praise God! He has provided for the site upgrade so now I can bring the over-sized files home to the same host without the bandwidth restrictions we started out with!
 
 
Finally got the scripts debugged. Its amazing how much grief a extra space can be, lol. I think everything is working like it should be. Next steps are adding a forum and then gearing up for the seasons. I'll probably add more Thanksgiving and maybe some Christmas themes. 

Also working on some ideas for user submissions. We may even do a "best caption" type of contest. 

I think the feed for this page is working. Its a good way to keep up with the news. Would be nice if someone would test it for us and give me some feedback.
 
Yay We're Live! 09/22/2010
 
There's still some editing to do and my HTML scripts aren't set yet. That means the music doesn't work on the preview pages yet. But we've officially switched the site over to our new host...cool!

Edit: OK...so the HTML scripts are buggy...I guess I'll be debugging them next.
 
 
Wasn't impressed with my original buttons so I made new ones. Checking and double checking the links...I had forgotten how many buttons I had used, lol.

Finally found a decent converter for my video files, so I converted the Christmas SS's to video then converted to SWF so I can post them as flash previews and ... finally ... send them like Christmas cards, yay! Some of the smoothness of the effects gets lost in the conversions, but they still look pretty nice. Finishing up those pages.

 I can't prove my HTML scripts till I go live. I think I have them like they should be, I'm praying they're good. I really don't want to go debugging.
 
 
For the time being I'm hosting all of my oversized files at File Den. Its a solution but not really the best for this application. Using the free service, it only allows 1GB of bandwidth per month. At least this way I can go live in the next few days.

All that's left now is linking everything up and adding the descriptions and such.  Then I'll redirect the domain and voila,  lol.