Congratulations on Launch!
Hello Debbie and Tony,
Congratulations, your new website is now live and visible to the world!
I'm still not seeing the live site. Why is that?
The industry standard for launch changes to propagate is 0-72 hours. However, it's been my experience that you can usually see these changes within 2 hours. You will know it was successful when visiting https://saintmary.life/ brings up the site seen here: http://saintmary.diocesanweb.org
If you can see the website on a computer or mobile device not using your parish's internet, it may be that your parish's internal server needs to be reset or may have the IP address of your previous host manually set up. If this is the case, you will have to talk to your IT person, as this is not something Diocesan can help with.
New Login Page
Although you will now go to https://saintmary.life/fortwalton to log in, your login credentials are still the same.
Statistics
Since your website is now live, we have also added the ability to track your website's statistics.
Feel free to view the statistics by clicking Statistics. This will give you access to see what devices are being used, how people are finding your website and your top pages/link.
Support Moving Forward
As you may have noticed, on your WordPress Dashboard, there is a Diocesan Web Support box with links to help articles that we have written especially for our websites, complete with step-by-step instructions and images. This should help with most of the questions that you may have.
You do also have another 2 weeks from your launch date to call and ask us any questions for free. After those 2 weeks, the paid support will go into effect. Paid support is $50/hr (prorated) and is billed monthly to the parish with each support items (date, amount of time, notes) itemized out.
If you have any issues or questions in the future, please email us at webdepartment@diocesan.com or call us at 877-923-0777.
Canceling Previous Website Host
Launching your website DOES NOT cancel your previous web hosting service. Diocesan does, however, suggest that you do not cancel your previous web hosting service until at least 2 business days after your new website launches.
NOTE: Some website hosting companies may package website hosting and domain hosting/renewal together. If this is true for you, you may want to consider transferring your domain over to Diocesan. You may begin this process by emailing us at webdepartment@diocesan.com or calling 877-923-0777.
Other Resources
Just in case we didn’t mention it in the training, here are some resources for free, stock images to use throughout your website:
- Unsplash
http://unsplash.com - Pexels
http://pexels.com - Cathopic
https://www.cathopic.com/
Please let me know if you have any questions and, again, congratulations!
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Thanks for this! So far everything looks good and we are finding things we never noticed before that were incorrect on original site... I guess seeing things in a new light!
One question, Adoration times are incorrect on Home page it says Friday 3-5pm. When I go to edit home page there is no place where I see that can be edited. I went to Mass Schedule page and changed it there thinking it would flow over but it is still incorrect.
Well, two questions :). When on Events page calendar or buttons on Home page with upcoming events when we click those buttons or "more details" we go to our own Google Calendar, one of our Deacons went to a page that he said showed some of his personal information, another email account he has outside of his church Gmail account. I think he must have his gmail forwarded to his private account and only he sees that. So, for a visitor to our website who doesn't have a google calendar, what do they see? our public Google website Calendar is my guess.
And, last, would it be possible for Fr. Doug and I to call someone around 1pm today, Central time. We are having issues with someone getting ahold of church staff and ministry leader emails/phone numbers. He wants to talk about what kind of security we have set up via website.
thanks!
Debbie
One question, Adoration times are incorrect on Home page it says Friday 3-5pm. When I go to edit home page there is no place where I see that can be edited. I went to Mass Schedule page and changed it there thinking it would flow over but it is still incorrect.
Well, two questions :). When on Events page calendar or buttons on Home page with upcoming events when we click those buttons or "more details" we go to our own Google Calendar, one of our Deacons went to a page that he said showed some of his personal information, another email account he has outside of his church Gmail account. I think he must have his gmail forwarded to his private account and only he sees that. So, for a visitor to our website who doesn't have a google calendar, what do they see? our public Google website Calendar is my guess.
And, last, would it be possible for Fr. Doug and I to call someone around 1pm today, Central time. We are having issues with someone getting ahold of church staff and ministry leader emails/phone numbers. He wants to talk about what kind of security we have set up via website.
thanks!
Debbie
Veronica Alvarado
Hi Debbie,
Isn't that just how it always goes? You think you're prepared but there's always little things that are just slightly off!
To update your homepage Mass Times, Confession Times, Adoration Times, and Office Hours, you must go to Theme Settings > Hours. The Mass Schedule page is updated independently from these Theme Settings hours for flexibility (adding notes, Holy Day masses, links, etc.).
As for the calendar events, I remember someone else saying that a couple of weeks ago too. To clarify, if the person has a Google Calendar account, it adds the parish event or parish calendar to their own Google Calendar. So the only events someone would see are those you see here: https://saintmary.life/parish-events/, plus their own Google Calendar events.
If they do not have a Google Calendar and they were to click on "More Details", rather than opening up their own Google Calendar, it takes them to a page that looks like this:
It may be easier to explain if you show them what people without a Google Calendar would see. To do this, try visiting your website in a browser that is not signed into Google at all or open an Incognito (Google Chrome) window. Since the calendar we're using on the website is this one (https://saintmary.life/parish-events/), these are the only events that could possibly have access to.
Last, I am free this afternoon so feel free to call at 1pm, central. Let's discuss using online fillable forms and some other options!
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Thanks Veronica!
The other area on the home page I cannot seem to find edit area is the event buttons to the right of the Mass hours.
Thanks!
The other area on the home page I cannot seem to find edit area is the event buttons to the right of the Mass hours.
Thanks!
Veronica Alvarado
Hi Debbie,
These events are pulling automatically from a Google calendar. The calendar is "Website Calendar" on your Google account (debbie.ridder@saintmary.life).
The Google Calendar is set to auto-update every 15 minutes, so there is nothing you have to update on the website, only on Google Calendar itself.
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Thanks Veronica,
I understand that. I would like to edit the buttons. I would like them to be smaller. And perhaps one color.
I understand that. I would like to edit the buttons. I would like them to be smaller. And perhaps one color.
Veronica Alvarado
Ah, okay!
Since that is a design change, a developer would make the change for you.
Below, I have an example of the calendar dates with smaller boxes and less border versus the current.
Less yellow:
No boxes at all:
Original/Current Design
Let me know if you have something specific in mind and I can talk to the developer to make sure it's something that's small enough that we can waive the support costs.
Thank you,
Since that is a design change, a developer would make the change for you.
Below, I have an example of the calendar dates with smaller boxes and less border versus the current.
Less yellow:
No boxes at all:
Original/Current Design
Let me know if you have something specific in mind and I can talk to the developer to make sure it's something that's small enough that we can waive the support costs.
Thank you,
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Hi Veronica,
The first one is fine with just one border yellow line. A little bit smaller would be better, but that would be acceptable.
The first one is fine with just one border yellow line. A little bit smaller would be better, but that would be acceptable.
Veronica Alvarado
Good morning Debbie,
The developer has made the changes we discussed. Since it was a minor design change done within the two weeks, there were no support costs incurred.
Please do a hard refresh on your homepage to see the changes. Click here to view instructions on how to perform a hard refresh.
Thank you,
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Ok, well I noticed that neither our phone number or email is in footer or anywhere on home page. When I go to theme settings i see them there but don't know why it is not showing on page.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Debbie Ridder
Also, after uploading homily yesterday I noticed it was posted about 15 times on our page. It happened to most recent homily, posted 7/12 and the first homily that shows up on webpage, The Secrets of Every Happy Family: Mothers (https://saintmary.life/homilies/the-secrets-of-every-happy-family-mothers/) posted on January 19. I was able to go in a delete all the extras. This is when I realized that not all of our homily archives are posted, it ends with the 'Mothers' homily. I noticed on blogger page that that coincided with # of homilies shown on edit page, 15 so I switched it to 100 but website still only shows 15 homilies.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Debbie Ridder
FYI, homily continues to repost it seems like every hour. I've had to go in and clean it out 3 times. I post from the blogger site and it's only posted once there. Not sure what i could have done to cause this, I don't recall going into homilies except for to try to fix this problem.
Thanks
Thanks
Veronica Alvarado
Good morning Debbie,
We're taking a look at this now.
I'll update you once we figure it out.
Thank you for your patience with us,
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Veronica Alvarado
Debbie,
I looked into the feed issue and was able to find out the following:
Feed Sources
We recently updated the RSS Feed to Post plugin to the newest version. This morning, we found out from multiple parishes that the newest version has some unresolved issues that is causing the issues that you mentioned (duplicated posts) and have now rolled everyone back to the previous version until they can solve the issue.
Additionally, with this update it had set a limit on number of imported posts to 15 posts per feed. I have updated this to 50.
Phone Number & Email
As for the phone number and email, would you like these to display below the address in the Find Us column of the footer?
In the original design, the phone number and email were not in the footer but our developers add these fields to every website so that if/when the parish wants to update their design and add this information in, it does not cost the parish an additional $100-150 in support costs to set it all up.
Let me if or where you would like the phone number and email address to go and I will have the developer add it in.
Thank you,
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Thank you Veronica. The email and phone number used to be in the header but it doesn't look like there is really and area for that now... so the footer by the the address is probably best.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Veronica Alvarado
Wonderful! I'll let the developer know so that he can add it to the footer.
Thank you,
Thank you,
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Veronica Alvarado
Hi Debbie,
Danae brought up the fact that the parish had been under attack in the past and that was one of the driving factors behind NOT displaying the phone numbers and email addresses.
With this in mind, did you still want us to add the contact information into the footer? If not, we could add a link below the address that says "Contact Our Staff" that goes to https://saintmary.life/our-staff/.
Again, I just wanted to double check before we went forward with this.
Thank you,
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Yes, we still want church phone number and email listed. The problem was with text messages to personal cell phones and staff emails requesting money etc...
Debbie Ridder
I suppose you could do an email form but O really don’t think it’s necessary.
Veronica Alvarado
Hi Debbie,
We've added in the phone number and email at no additional cost.
If you have any future support issues, please contact us at webdepartment@diocesan.com or 877-923-0777.
Thank you,
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Thanks!
Another thing I noticed is on the Faith Formation page, the pictures for Children’s Ministry and RCIA don’t always show up? Actually, I initially thought you hadn’t put pics there and I was going to add my own when I had time. Then I noticed sometime the pictures would appear and other times they wouldn’t. The youth ministry pics always show up. I noticed when looking at the photo gallery, that I did not see the photo for children’s ministry or RCIA in the gallery? I guess I could just swap them out with something else but I wondered if the link was messed up.
Another thing I noticed is on the Faith Formation page, the pictures for Children’s Ministry and RCIA don’t always show up? Actually, I initially thought you hadn’t put pics there and I was going to add my own when I had time. Then I noticed sometime the pictures would appear and other times they wouldn’t. The youth ministry pics always show up. I noticed when looking at the photo gallery, that I did not see the photo for children’s ministry or RCIA in the gallery? I guess I could just swap them out with something else but I wondered if the link was messed up.
Debbie Ridder
For instance, this morning the pics show up on the computer but not on my phone. But there have been times they showed up on the phone but not the computer... and sometimes on neither
Debbie Ridder
I just looked in the gallery again and this is what I saw, bad links?
Cody Armock
Hello Debbie,
I put those photos that were used originally into the media library, so if you wanted to switch to using those ones, then you can.
Cody Armock
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Veronica Alvarado
Hi Debbie,
I've gone ahead and reuploaded the images. It may have been that the file was corrupt or originally too large to load quick enough, but they have been uploaded again.
As Cody said, they are in the media library: https://saintmary.life/wp-admin/upload.php?search=reuploaded
I have gone ahead and replaced the two images on the Faith Formation page with the other images so you won't have to.
Let us know if you have any other issues,
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Thank you!
when you click on the map on the home page is it supposed to take you to google maps, directions, ph. # etc page, like it does when you click the address?? If that's possible, Fr. Doug would like that to happen.
Thanks
Debbie
when you click on the map on the home page is it supposed to take you to google maps, directions, ph. # etc page, like it does when you click the address?? If that's possible, Fr. Doug would like that to happen.
Thanks
Debbie
Veronica Alvarado
Hi Debbie,
I can ask to see if this is an option and will let you know.
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Veronica Alvarado
I talked to the developer and there are two options for the map area:
- Interactive Map (current)
With the current, interactive map, you can move around on the map and zoom in/out. If you click on "Google" down in the bottom left corner (sometimes barely visible when it is white on white) then this will open up Google Maps directions.
Unfortunately, since it is a copyrighted Google Maps displaying, we can change colors, but cannot add "Click here for Directions" to it. - Static Image of Map
With a static image of the map, the whole image would be a clickable link to Google Maps directions. SO there would still be an image of the map, but the map would no longer be interactive.
Please let me know what you'd like to do.
Thank you,
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Veronica Alvarado
Here is an example of the static image:
Upon clicking, it would take them to: https://goo.gl/maps/XUsQmJR8uRtiUcHw9
Upon clicking, it would take them to: https://goo.gl/maps/XUsQmJR8uRtiUcHw9
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Thank you. Let’s go with the static page that takes us to google maps.
Veronica Alvarado
I have let the developer know about this change and he will be working on it today.
Thanks, Debbie.
Thanks, Debbie.
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
thanks!
Debbie Ridder
Veronica,
When I posted the homily blog this week it did not automatically appear on website, I had to manually add it. Remember we had issues with homily "over posting" last weekend, maybe that's related?
When I posted the homily blog this week it did not automatically appear on website, I had to manually add it. Remember we had issues with homily "over posting" last weekend, maybe that's related?
Veronica Alvarado
Hi Debbie,
Sorry for the late response, I was out of town. The homilies are set to check and add any new posts every 24 hours at 8:30 am.
What days and time do you normally post the homilies? I'd like to monitor it and maybe try requesting "Fetch Posts" after you post it to see if it is pulling it in at all, pulling it late, or just not pulling it at all.
Thank you,
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Veronica Alvarado
It also may be that I need to update that feed to fetch posts every 2 hours rather than every 24 hours, so that when you post the homily, it pulls it sooner rather than the next day.
Thanks again,
Thanks again,
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Sooner would be better than later; 2 hours as opposed to 24.
Thanks :)
Thanks :)
Veronica Alvarado
Done!
If the same issue happens again this week, please let me know and we can dig a little deeper.
If the same issue happens again this week, please let me know and we can dig a little deeper.
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
thanks!
Veronica Alvarado
Good morning Debbie,
I wanted to check in to see if the homilies posted this weekend like they were supposed to.
Just let me know!
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
I must have posted at the right time because it seemed to post immediately :) . thks
Debbie
Debbie
Veronica Alvarado
Perfect!
If you have any other issues in the future, just email webdepartment@diocesan.com to let us know!
Have a blessed day, Debbie,
If you have any other issues in the future, just email webdepartment@diocesan.com to let us know!
Have a blessed day, Debbie,
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Thank you!
Veronica Alvarado
Of course :)
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
I have been trying to sign in to our website dashboard to edit the website. The link that you provided us, https://saintmary.life/fortwalton, and which I have saved in bookmarks, will revert to https://saintmary.life (https://saintmary.life/fortwalton). I have cleared the caches on both safari and chrome. Ive shut down and restarted my computer several times and I cannot reach the sign in dash board.
Tony, can you try signing in and see if you are able to. I'm not sure what else to do.
Thanks!
Tony, can you try signing in and see if you are able to. I'm not sure what else to do.
Thanks!
Debbie Ridder
Welp! Nevermind, tried again going through Chrome toolbar to bookmarks, which I've done several times but this time it worked
Veronica Alvarado
Hi Debbie and Tony,
I'm not sure what would have caused this, but I did want to mention that by default, one of our security measures is to have the login page turned off (inaccessible) from 1:00 am - 6:00 am. This reduces the risk of spam attacks and hackers attempting to log into your website during the USA's "inactive" hours.
If this is something you would like us to turn off or update the hours for, please let us know and we will do so right away.
Thank you,
Veronica Alvarado
Debbie Ridder
That explains it. I was working early that day. You can leave it as is.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Veronica Alvarado
Okay, we will leave it as it is for now. If this happens more often, just let us know and we can update the hours as you see fit.
Have a great day, Debbie.
Have a great day, Debbie.
Veronica Alvarado
Web Department, Diocesan
877-923-0777
877-923-0777
Debbie Ridder
Hi Veronica,
I hope you are doing well in this crazy time!
As you can imagine, I have been making endless changes to our website. I tried to add another mosaic by deleting secondary tile and duplicating tiles 1 and 2. everything looks great in edit mode but when updated the new tiles don't show up. Can you help.
https://saintmary.life/
Thank you God Bless
I hope you are doing well in this crazy time!
As you can imagine, I have been making endless changes to our website. I tried to add another mosaic by deleting secondary tile and duplicating tiles 1 and 2. everything looks great in edit mode but when updated the new tiles don't show up. Can you help.
https://saintmary.life/
Thank you God Bless