Tips & Tricks for Ward / Stake Websites

[jbh001]

Oh yeah, make sure you also blot out the words "Address Correction Requested" if they appear on your envelope. This instructs the Post Office to return the envelope to you with the new address label on it without forwarding it,

Not quite.

The U.S Postal Service has several kinds of ancillary endorsements.

Forwarding Service Requested is the default handing of first class mail whether or not this endorsement is printed on the envelope. If there is a change of address on file with the USPS, the mail piece is automatically forwarded for the first 12 months and is returned to senderwith the new address or reason for non-deliveryduring months 12-18 after an address change. This is likely what you want to have happen with mailed tax statements.

Return Service Requested if the address has changed, the mail piece is returned to the sender without forwarding. It usually has that yellow label with the new address on it. This is what a ward clerk would what to happen the rest of the time things (like checks) are mailed so that they get returned to you as soon as possible.

I usually try to send out a simple mailing one or two times per year with Return Service Requested. This is usually something basic like a one page printout of the current month's ward calendar. I do this to ping the address of members that we do not know whether they have moved or not. If the mail piece is returned, I usually have a forwarding address to move the records to. This helps clean up the membership list somewhat, especially if done prior to quarterly reports.

It also helps to have a Relief Society President, Elders Quorum President, and High Priests Group Leader that try to visit every new move-in within a month of records arriving in the ward.

Address Service Requested and Change Service Requested are something used only by those mailing thousands of mail pieces per day (like Verizon Wireless phone bills), since they provide separate notification (usually for a fee) of what the new address is, either in the form of a postcard or electronically.

[jdlessley]

After reviewing this thread I was hoping to see some imaginative suggestions for scheduling resources in the stake center building shared by multiple wards.

Because our stake has three wards meeting in the stake center building, the scheduling of resources has been assigned to an assistant stake clerk as the single point of contact for reservations and calendaring of events. We forego using the stake 'Resources' calendar in favor of the 'Stake Calendar' as a single source for reserving resources, or rooms, in the building as well as calendaring events. This reduces some correlation error when trying to cross check events with resources. It would be nice if the resources calendar and the events calendar were layered as mentioned in other threads to allow use of both calendars as intended.

For us calendaring an event and making room reservations are much the same. For reserving rooms we redirect users from the resources calendar to the events calendar by leaving instructions on the 'Resources' page like this:
All Resources Scheduled on the Stake Calendar
DO NOT attempt to reserve rooms for the stake center here!
All resources are scheduled by submitting an event on the stake web calendar.

Click the link "Stake Calendar" on the left of this page to access the stake calendar.

All submissions on the stake web calendar should include in the 'Details' box of the request the following three items.
1. Comments or instructions for the benefit of people viewing the details of the event.
2. Point of contact name with telephone number, e-mail address, or both.
3. Rooms needed. Set up and clean up times should be included in the 'Details' section for the complete reservation.

When an event or building reservation is made the clerk then adds the words "@ stake ctr' to the end of the event title to indicate a reservation is included in the event. Within the details section the clerk makes sure the three items of information identified above are present for members looking to see what has been reserved as well as a deconfliction tool for himself when future reservation requests are submitted.

Events planned for locations other than the stake center will not have the added information in the title and will have the location identified in the details section of the event.

All this said and done there arises a unique problem. Because the ward web sites are not used to schedule resources any ward event scheduled in the stake center building cannot have broadcast e-mail message announcements sent out. At least they can't be sent as part of the calendar event submittal. Instead the clerk has to include a comment that directs the submitter to submit a request for message broadcast to their web site administrator. Needless to say few do this for a variety of reasons.

For Church members moving into one of the three wards sharing the building it takes some time to get used to this method of operations. Questions still have to be fielded as to why there are no resouces at the 'Resources' page.

I was wondering how others in the same or similar situation handle scheduling resources.

JD Lessley

[darylg-p40]

I always use word to type my messages then I copy/paste it into the webpage I am working on. Be it the message for the Stake President or the Bishop or posting a calander item with info. This way I can run a spell and gramer check

[AileneRHerrick]

third tip/trick...last for today.

on our news page which you won't be able to see unless you are really special
i have created links to our calendar...assuming you have javascript turned on...
so when you open a message...it will have a link in the body...

<span style=color:blue;cursor;pointer; onclick=javascript:window.location.href=('/units/a/calendar/1,7934,601-1-7-107107,00.html')>Ward Calendar 2007</span>

no one has removed my tips/tricks yet...but i have never posted them...
so ill let you know if they get removed...

I love this trick! It works very well for linking to anywhere on the Ward Website. So, to implement this trick... I created a "Website Bulletin" News and Information item with links to updated information and upcoming events. I am thrilled with this tip!

One question though! How do I tweak the script so that when people hold their mouse over the link, they'll see a little hand like when they mouse over other links on the website? Currently it shows a text bar thingy (like the bar to select text). Also, a way to make it underline the links? I currently just used HTML to underline it, but if I could stick it all within the JavaScript, that would be ideal!

Thanks again for the excellent tip!

Ailene

[AileneRHerrick]

I love this trick! It works very well for linking to anywhere on the Ward Website. So, to implement this trick... I created a "Website Bulletin" News and Information item with links to updated information and upcoming events. I am thrilled with this tip!

Oh, one more thing... I update the bulletin on a weekly basis.

[Danpeay]

I stumbled up this when looking at another
website in our Stake with a less-than-dillegent
Admin.

Turns out that someone moved out of his
ward several months ago, but was still
listed as holding a calling. And guess
what ? It listed that person's new
contact information.

So here's the trick:

When you find out that someone is about to move,
give them a calling on the Ward Website.
I recommend the Other Category with a Calling
name like "Former Member" or if you're a Student
Ward "Alumni".

The start of the year, when your financial clerk
is scrambling looking for addresses to send
people their Tax Statements for donations made
in your ward, print out this list with all the new
addresses on it. You'll have a new best friend.

- Atticus Ewig

I've just became a fan of these forums. Thanks you for sharing these great tips!

[enoch5939-p40]

I posted this in another thread where you had asked the same question.

<span style=color:blue;cursor;pointer;

there is a ; after cursor. It should be a : instead ... that will fix it.

[nutterb]

The default text size within an HTML table is larger than the default text size on the LUWS. So if you are combining text and tables in a News and Information item, the text sizes will be different. Thus enters the <font> tag. Unfortunately, the <font> tag is deprecated and at some future date will no longer be valid HTML code. The only way to get around the size difference at that point will be to use CSS styles, which don't work in LUWS. There isn't anything you can do about this, but be aware that at some future date, the <font> tag may stop working.

While we're talking about deprecation, the
tag is going to be replaced at some future date. HTML is supposedly switching to a format in which all tags must be closed. When this change takes effect, you will need to use
instead of
. The HTML parsers will read
as both an open and closed tag, making it valid. HTML can read this tag now, so I would recommend using it.

With regards to links, in the <span> tag, each option is specified using a colon between the option name and the choice, and a semicolon to denote when specifying an additional option (i.e. <span style=[option1]:[option1 name]; [option2]:[option2 name]>). I find that putting after ever semi-colon helps me identify what my options are with a little more ease.

[aebrown]

... the <font> tag is deprecated and at some future date will no longer be valid HTML code. The only way to get around the size difference at that point will be to use CSS styles, which don't work in LUWS. There isn't anything you can do about this, but be aware that at some future date, the <font> tag may stop working.

There's another way to affect font size (and face): You can use inline CSS styles associated with span tags to change fonts, as well, and this does work with LUWS. For example, the following text will be in 24px:

Code: Select all

<span style=font-size:24px;>This is big text</span>

While we're talking about deprecation, the
tag is going to be replaced at some future date. HTML is supposedly switching to a format in which all tags must be closed. When this change takes effect, you will need to use
instead of
.

This is a good point. I would note that when you type text into a News and Information item, LUWS will convert any line breaks into
tags, when it really should convert them into
tags. So if you are concerned about properly closed
tags, you might need to manually fix up these automatically-inserted tags as well.