Web Design, Guidelines, and Publishing
See Also
Web Writing and Style Guidelines
Webmaster
History
- The most recent redesign was launched March 2014.
Purpose
Share the following information:
- Our Vision as a United Church congregation
- Explore Spirituality
- Experience Belonging
- Embrace Action
- Explanation of church activities and priorities
- Calendar of events
- News postings
- Sermons
- Governance documents
Goal
- Pique interest and entice members of the external community to find out more about Fairlawn by describing our vision and programs
- Provide news and events to potential, new, and long-time members
- Provide access to external pages such as Online Donations
Content
The content is controlled by the web content Owners
Static content
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- Explore Spirituality
- Experience Belonging
- Embrace Action
- Family
- About us (Staff, History, etc.)
Dynamic content
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- Events
- News
- Greetings (updated weekly)
- Connections (quarterly glossy newsletter)
- Sermon podcasts
Priority
- High: Fairlawn Avenue United Church descriptions, news, and events
- Medium: Events from the community that Fairlawn participates in, such as North Toronto United Church Cluster of Churches
- Low: Other events in the Toronto community, but only if they are related to our Vision
Publishing
- Updates: To request an update to an existing web page, send a request by email to The request will be reviewed, discussed with, and approved by, the specific Web Content Owner (see Appendix).
- New content: To request a new information page on the website, use the Communications Council’s advertising checklist for events, or contact the appropriate member of Governing Council.
- Policy statements: Check with the chair of Governing Council. With their approval, the webmaster will publish it on the website.
- Announcements: Contact Greetings editor. After it appears in Greetings, the webmaster will pick it up and add it to the website.
- News and Events
- For events, check with the property manager before beginning, to coordinate and authorize scheduling and room availability, to ensure there are no conflicts, and to book a room if one is needed.
- Next fill in the “Advertising Checklist”
fairlawnchurch.ca/advertising
- The following information is required:
- Event title
- Description
- Contact name and email address
- Photo or image if you have one
- For NEWS items, also include:
- the date that the news item should be removed from the website, if you know it;
- otherwise send an email to when it is time to remove it
- obviously stale-dated news will be removed at the webmaster’s discretion
- For EVENTS, also include:
- Date
- Start time
- End time (this is essential)
- Location
- The computer program will automatically remove events from the Events Calendar at the end of the event.
- You will likely have more information than can be included in Greetings or a poster. If so, include a link in the Greetings announcement or on the poster that leads to a web page containing your additional detail. The webmaster will provide the URL for you to use.
- Note: your information may appear in:
- Greetings
- Connections
- Website
- Social media: Facebook, Twitter
- Approval: If there is a question of appropriateness of the posting, the webmaster will refer it to the Communications Council or to Governing Council as appropriate.
Maintenance
The website is reviewed regularly.
- News posts are reviewed weekly by the webmaster; old content is removed at the webmaster’s discretion.
- Events are automatically removed after the event.
- Static content has been assigned a “Web Content Owner” (see appendix).
The web content owners are reminded each year to review their web pages to ensure the website is up-to-date and accurate. - The webmaster performs ad hoc reviews throughout the year on all content to check accuracy, completeness of content, and accuracy of hyperlinks.
Backup
- WordPress automatically provides backup of content.
Timing of content updates
- Weekly updates are undertaken based on the publication of Greetings.
- Whenever possible, the webmaster is able to handle requests on an ad hoc basis. You may expect a one week turnaround, but often the work is completed within 24 hours.
- No updates are scheduled in the summer. Greetings is not published weekly in the summer and, therefore, news and events are not available to the webmaster to present on the website.
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Other communication options
- The website is just one tool for communications. Determine other options by using the Advertising Checklist.
What the Website does not accept
- Anything that might indicate that Fairlawn Avenue United Church endorses a particular candidate or political party. A neutral tone is important.
- Opinions other than those sanctioned by Fairlawn Governing Council.
- “For Sale” or “Wanted” notices. Use the community bulletin board downstairs instead.
- News or events that do not relate directly to the Fairlawn Vision.
- Past events are not covered on the website. However, occasionally a web page post can be used to redirect users to Facebook for photos of past events that are very special to Fairlawn; for example, the 1915 church service celebrating our 100th anniversary.
- Photo albums of events. When authorized, these will appear in Greetings or on the Fairlawn Facebook page rather than on the Fairlawn website.
Contact
Read more
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Appendix A: Web Content Owners for Fairlawn’s Website
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WEB PAGE: | WEB CONTENT OWNER: |
Home Page | Webmaster, Communications Council chair |
News | Authors of individual news items |
Events | Sponsors of individual events |
. Greetings, Connections | Editor |
Explore Spirituality | Chair, Spirituality Council |
. Sermons | Minister |
. Music | Director of Music |
. Adult Education | Chair, Adult Education Committee |
Family, Spirit Space, Messy Church, Youth, Nursery |
Minister of Children & Youth |
. Community Partners | Church Administrator |
Experience Belonging | Chair, Experience Belonging Council |
Embrace Action | Chair, Embrace Action Council |
· Social Justice | Chair, Social Justice Committee |
· Climate Justice | Chair, Social Justice Committee |
· Outreach | Chair, Embrace Action |
· Mission and Service | Chair, Embrace Action |
· Prayer Shawl Ministry | Currently Jan Schlee and Barb Warner |
· Affirm | Chair, Affirm |
· Boarding Homes Ministry | Currently Rob Metcalf |
· Walk-in Support | Currently Rob Metcalf |
· Camp Scugog | Chair, Camp Scugog committee |
· Refugee sponsorship
. Truth and Reconciliation |
Chair, Refugee Sponsorship Teams
Chair, Fairlawn’s Truth and Reconciliation Committee |
About us | Chair, Governing Council |
· Welcome | Minister |
· Staff | Church Administrator |
· The Fairlawn Call | Chair, Governing Council |
· Accessibility | Church Administrator |
· Our history | Currently Gary Schlee |
· Governance documents | Chair, Governing Council |
· Donations | Church accountant |