Creating and Editing your site


What's my site ID?

To find out the site IDs of the church sites you are allowed to edit, go to www.forministry.com/siteeditor/fmselectsite.cfm, and type in your user name and password, which you chose during registration. Some people have experienced problems when registering; in many cases, the registration did go through, so please try the user name and password you entered, even if you received an error message. We are currently working on the registration bugs. We're sorry for the inconvenience.

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How do I put an image on my site?

This is a two-step process.
First, Upload your image

  • First, go to the editing menu at the top of your screen, and click on Manage Content.
  • Click on site content. A new window will open.
  • Choose a Scope where the item will be located. ("My site," includes content you have created; "Shared," includes content that has been shared with you by another church; "Public," includes content that you or other ForMinistry churches have made available for use on any church Web site.)
  • Click on the "select content type" pick list, and click on Image.
  • Click on Create, and a new window will appear.
  • Click on Browse, and choose your image.
  • Click on Upload.
  • Your image is now ready to be placed on a page.

Second, place your image on the page

  • Go to the page where you want to add your image.
  • Click on Manage Arrangements and select Enter Edit Mode.
  • The main portion of your page will appear with a new toolbar; click on Add/Remove from the toolbar.
  • A new window will open; click on Add.
  • Click on the "select content type" pick list, and click on image. When the window refreshes, you will see a list of image files with the name, date, and creator of the image.
  • Click in the checkbox next to the desired image(s), and click on Add to Arrangement.
  • In the new window, click on OK.
  • The new window should close, and your main browser should refresh with the new image on the page.
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How do I add content to my site?

Adding content is a two-step process.
First, Upload your content

  • First, go to the editing menu at the top of your screen, and click on Manage Content.
  • Click on site content. A new window will open.
  • Choose a Scope where the item will be located. ("My site," includes content only available to your organization; "Shared," includes content being shared bewteen you and another organization; "Public," includes content that you or other ForMinistry churches have made available for use on any church Web site.)
  • Click on the "select content type" pick list, and click on article, text, or HTML. (Text is for regular content, welcome messages, etc. that you might add to your Web site. HTML is for people who prefer to use HTML code instead of the wysiwyg editor. Article is for longer or more formal articles (such as newsletter features, or messages from the church leader).
  • Click on Create.
  • A new window will appear. If you are entering Text or an Article, you may get an Install Windows message. (see message under "When I try to create an article or text item. I get a message to install Windows installer." This is a bug we are in the process of fixing. We apologize for the inconvenience.
  • Type in your content. You can also copy and paste out of a Word document—or a Web site—and your formating will be saved.
  • Click on the blue Update Your Content button before hitting View, Done, or any of the other top menu items. If you do not update the content first, you may lose your work. (see message under "I entered my information, but it didn't save."

Second, place the Content on your page

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How do I allow other ForMinistry churches to put my articles on their church Web site (or keep it only on my church site)?

When you create a content item or image, it is by default accessible only to your church Web site, and only you are allowed editing privileges. If you would like to allow other ForMinistry church editors to post your articles on their Web sites, or allow editing privileges to others, here's how to do it:

Allow other ForMinistry church editors to post your articles on their Web sites

  • First, go to the editing menu at the top of your screen, and click on Manage Content.
  • Click on site content.
  • A new window will open; click on the "select content type" pick list, and click on the item-type that you want to make public.
  • Next, click on the edit icon next to the name of the content item you want to share. This will open a new window.
  • Click on Sharing from the top toolbar.
  • Click on the blue Make Public button in the middle of the window.
  • Your content is now public to the ForMinistry community! (Note: to undo this, click on the word public (next to the person icon), and click on the red Remove User(s) button.)

Allow editing privileges to others on your team

  • First, go to the editing menu at the top of your screen, and click on Manage Content.
  • Click on site content.
  • A new window will open; click on the "select content type" pick list, and click on the item-type you want to allow others to edit.
  • Next, click on the edit icon next to the name of the content item you want to share. This will open a new window.
  • Click on Sharing from the top toolbar.
  • Next, enter the name of the User or Group that you want to grant access to the item.
  • Click on the blue Add this User or Add this Group buttons. (Note: You must first create additional users and groups in order to do this.) To undo this, click on the user or group name, and click on Remove User(s).
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I entered my information, but it didn't save. What happened?

Each section of the profile information is a separate entity. You need to click on the blue Update button before going on to edit another section. If you do not click on Update before clicking on Edit for another section, the information will not be saved.

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When I try to create an article or text item, I get a message to install Windows installer. I don't have the installation CD. What do I do?

This is a reported error that seems to be occuring with specific versions of Web browsers on some users' computers. It does not appear to be an error that will prevent you from using our system, just let the window run its course, then when it asks for the CD, click on Cancel. When the next prompt comes up, click on OK. You may have to repeat this 2 or 3 times.

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How do I add a page to my site?

  • First, go to the editing menu at the top of your screen, and click on Manage Site.
  • Click on Site Admin.
  • A new window will open; click on New Page, the second item in the left column.
  • Next, under Menu Label, type in the name for your new page as you would like it to be displayed on your site's menu.
  • Under Page URL Name, Enter a single word name for this page to be used in the URL. (no spaces or symbols)
  • Next, under Destination, Select the 'Section' where you want your page to be created.
  • Click on Create Page.
  • You have now created a new page. You can edit this page by returning to Site Admin and clicking on the page name. (NOTE: A page can be created under a section, but not under other another page.)
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How do I add a section to my site?

  • First, go to the editing menu at the top of your screen, and click on Manage Site.
  • Click on Site Admin.
  • A new window will open; click on New Section, the third item in the left column.
  • Next, under Section Label, type in the name for your new section as you would like it to be displayed on your site's menu.
  • Under Section URL Name, Enter a single word name for this section to be used in the URL. (no spaces or symbols)
  • Next, under Destination, Select where you want your section to be created.
  • Click on Create Section.
  • You have now created a new section. You can edit this section by returning to Site Admin and clicking on the section name. (NOTE: A section can be created under the main site or under another section of the site, but not under a page.)
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How do I delete a section?

  • First, go to the editing menu at the top of your screen, and click on Manage Site.
  • Click on Site Admin.
  • A new window will open; click on the name of the section you would like to delete in the left-hand menu.
  • Click on Delete Section.
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How do I rename a section?

  • First, go to the editing menu at the top of your screen, and click on Manage Site.
  • Click on Site Admin.
  • A new window will open; click on the name of the section you would like to rename in the left-hand menu.
  • Type in the new name of the section and click on Update Section.
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How do I change the layout of a page?

  • First, go to the editing menu at the top of your screen, and click on Manage Arrangements.
  • Click on Layouts.
  • A new window will open; select the layout you would like to use and click Next.
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What happened to the "Make Public" button?

The Make Public button has been temporarily disabled. This function enables you to allow all ForMinistry editors to use your content on their church Web sites. However, we are halting this function until some issues are resolved. All the content you create is automatically available for guests of your site to see when you place it on your page, and you can still share your content with other ForMinistry groups and users. If you have any questions, please contact us.

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