Welcome
Welcome to our website. Below you will find several tips to help get you understand our site and how it benefits you. Click on the links below to automatically "jump" to articles, or simply scroll through the page.
Take a Tour
Welcome to the web site! This web site is a dynamic and interactive way to participate in the life of the church on-line. Whilst there is plenty of information for visitors to find out about us, this web site is primarily for you - and there's a whole variety of different ways you can participate and make the most of the facilities available.
This Quick Start Guide provides a brief introduction to some of the main features.
Login
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Much of the information on this web site is private. This means that as a visitor to the web site you may access some information (such as where and when the church meets) but you will not be able to access secure areas such as the address book. To login click the Login link at the top of the screen. A window will appear where you can enter a login name and password; enter the details as supplied, taking care to use capital letters where appropriate.
Once the login process is complete a welcome message will appear at the top of the screen.
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The front page
The front page of the web site provides a brief introduction to everything going on in the church community this week:
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Calendar
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A diary of events for this week.Each item is divided into two sections (e.g. Morning meeting @ Central Hall). Click on the first half of the item to display more information about the event or to contact the meeting organiser. Click on the second half of the item to see a map showing the meeting location.
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Latest Articles
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See a selection of the most recent articles added to the web site. Click on the title to see the full article.
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Recent Forum Posts
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A selection of the most recent contributions to the discussion forums and responses to articles. Click on the text to display the full message or click View all forums to see a complete list of forums.
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The menu bar
The menu bar at the top of the screen allows you to access the rest of the church web site. The main areas are as follows:
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Click this option at any stage to return to the homepage. Hover over the menu to access the following areas of the web site:
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Forums - see a complete list of discussion forums; those forums with new messages will be highlighted.
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Audio / Video - listen and watch the latest recordings made by the church.
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Chatter - communicate with other members of the church in real time using chatter zones.
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Address Book - a directory of contact information for church members only.
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Calendar - click on this option to see the calendar for the current month.
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Click on this option to see articles introducing the church to visitors. Hover over the option to see more information about a specific aspect of the work of the church.
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Click this option to see articles and discussion forums relating to the entire church community. Hover over the option to see other groups within the church – click on any item to see articles and discussion forums relating specifically to that group.
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Contains seminar notes, teaching series, special features and other resources to use as a reference.
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This section allows you to configure your personalisation settings, update your contact details, see when you are next scheduled to contribute to a rota duty and submit new articles for publication on the web site.
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Tricks and Tips
This quick start guide covers some of the less well known aspects of the web site to help you get more out of it!
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Personalisation
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Personalisation allows you to customise the homepage of your church web site to show only the information you need!
Each area of the web site homepage has a small button at the top which allows you to switch personalisation on or off for that area:
 indicates that personalisation is on
 indicates that personalisation is off
You can customise your personalisation settings in the my involvement section of the web site.
Check the boxes in the personalisation column for each group you would like included. For example, if your children are involved in Youth Group activities you may wish to see their events in your personalised calendar.
Once you have selected the appropriate groups, click the update buttton.
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Rota reminders
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The rota reminders feature helps you keep track of when you are next on duty! Whether you're on PA setup, Children's work or Tea & Coffee making, email reminders can make sure you know about an upcoming event well in advance.
By default, 3 days before an event where you are involved you will receive an email telling you the event you are involved in, the duty you are performing and a contact person should you have any questions.
To change these settings hover over the my area option on the menu bar and select my rotas.
Under the rota reminders section your current settings are displayed:
- If you would like to turn reminders off uncheck the box and press update.
- If you would like to receive your rota reminders on a different day select a new setting by clicking on the arrow next to the number. (Choosing 0 days will send you a reminder on the morning of the day of the event). Press the update button to save your changes.
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Printable Address Book
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You can download the church address book in Adobe PDF format to print out and keep by the telephone. Click the Printable Version link at the top of the page and select from the range of formats available before clicking the download button. Note: you will need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to open these files.
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Download the Address Book to Outlook or Outlook Express
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 You can download the entire online address book for your church into Microsoft® Outlook or Outlook Express as follows:
- Click on the
 address book option from the home menu.
- The church address book will be displayed. Click on the Advanced Options link at the top of the page to display the additional options.
- Click on the arrow next to Choose format and select Export to file:
- Click on the All link.
A link to the address book in a text format will be displayed along with instructions on how to download and install the file.
You can also use advanced options to display an address book for just one group within the church. Use the Show only members of filter to select the group you wish to display.
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Send Birthday Greetings to Other Members
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You can send a personal message to another member on their birthday as follows:
- Select the
 calendar option from the home menu.
- Click on the arrow next to show calendar and select show birthdays.
- A list of birthdays for the current month will be displayed – the current date is highlighted.
- Click on the member you wish to send birthday greetings to (bear in mind that the greeting will be sent immediately).
- A window will open with the member name at the top and a space to enter your greeting.
Once the greeting is complete click the Send button.
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Searching
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The search tool (found just below the menu bar on every page) can be used to search articles, events and forums within your organisation's web site. It can also be used to search for articles, events and forums on other church web sites across the church:insight network.
Site Search – search articles, events and forum discussions by entering keywords in the search box below the menu bar and clicking the button.
Further search options are displayed once a site search has been submitted. On the site search results page you can choose from one of the following additional options:
Related sites – searches articles, events and forum discussion from related churches using the church:insight service – these may be other churches in your stream, denomination or geographical location.
Church:insight network – searches articles, events and forum discussions right across the church:insight network.
- Click the Search button to begin the search.
Once the search is complete you can sort the results by relevance, title, author, date or web site.
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Parental Lock
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 Childlock gives parents the ability to prevent children in your family from altering certain settings in the my profile area. When childlock is enabled any child under 16 in the same family will no longer be able to edit the profile of any other member of your family, and they will not be able to alter the privacy settings or date of birth options in their own profile.
A valid date of birth must be entered for all members of the family in order to successfully use the childlock feature.
You can enable the childlock from the family details section of my profile (found under the my area menu) . By default this facility is switched off.
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Forums Guide
The discussion forums are a great place to interact with the rest of the church community - whether it’s thrashing out difficult theological issues, alerting people to community needs, or just chatting about the performance of the church football team!
What is a forum?
A forum is a discussion area – each area caters for a different topic of discussion such as debate, prayer requests, community needs, or general chat. Each forum has a number of topics making up the threads of conversation – for instance, a request for a babysitter would be a topic in the community needs forum with each response a posting inside that topic.
Forums may be associated with a particular group within the church – so for instance you may have a forum specifically for members of the worship team. Some forums are generally available to any visitor (e.g. guestbook), some for members of the church (e.g. chat), whilst some may only available to members of a small group.
Discussion forums on the home page
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The home page of the church web site has a small selection of the most recent contributions to the forums and feedback to articles. Click on any link to display the full posting as well as read the rest of the discussion. Click on the View All Forums link to display the forums page.
You can also access the forums by selecting the  forums option from the home menu.
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The Forums page
The forums page displays a complete list of all the forums available to you (note: if you are not logged on at this stage you will only see the forums available to visitors).
A “new” flag next to the forum name indicates that there have been further contributions to this forum since you last logged in. Click on the forum name to see a list of topics within that forum.
The Topics page
The topics page displays all the conversation threads within a forum. At the top of the page is a brief introduction as well as information on who can see contributions to this forum. A “new” flag next to the topic name indicates that there have been further contributions to this topic since you last logged in.
Click on the name of the topic you would like to read.
The opening contribution to the topic is displayed at the top of the page; each response is listed chronologically beneath. If you have visited this topic previously the responses will be divided into those you have read before and those that are new contributions since you last logged in.
Click on the All forums link at any time to return to the forums page. Click on the Topic list link to return to the topics page from inside any topic.
Adding your message to a topic
To add your response either click the Write a reply link or scroll to the bottom of the page and add your comment in the box provided. If you would like to add an ‘emoticon’ (an animated face conveying an expression) click on the smiling face to select one of the available icons. Once you have completed your response click the OK button.
Note: If you have a member account on the web site you should ensure that you are logged in before submitting a new message to the forums. If you do not have a member account you may still be able to submit a response in some forums – remember to add your name to the appropriate box before pressing the OK button.
Starting a new topic
You can start a new topic as follows:
Enter the discussion forum where you wish to post the message using the method described above.
At the bottom of that area is a section called Start a new discussion topic; type your message into the box provided – don’t forget to add a descriptive title which describes the message content.
If you would like to add an emoticon click on the 'smiley' face to select from the icons available.
Once you have completed your message click the OK button to submit it to the forum.
Offensive messages
There may be occasions when a visitor (or member) posts a message which you feel is either inappropriate or offensive. If you notice a message of this nature click the  flag at the top of that message to report the posting to a forum moderator. The message will be immediately removed and will only be reinstated when the moderator has approved or edited it.
Group forums
Each group featured under the church life menu option may have one or more forums associated with it – if you have permission to contribute to these forums they will appear on the forums page. On the home page for each group there is a small selection of recent contributions to forums within that group as well as feedback to articles posted in this area. As with the church web site home page click on any item in the list to display the full posting as well as read the rest of the discussion. Underneath the most recent contributions is a list of the forums available within this group – click on any item to see the topic list for this forum.
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Submitting an Article Guide
Have you got some exciting news to share with the rest of the church? Has God been speaking to you on a particular topic that other people may find useful? Have you been studying something new with your small group and you’d like to tell other people about it? The document editor is the place where you can contribute to the church web site and see your work online!
Beginning a new article
1. Hover over the
option and click on my documents; any documents written previously will be displayed as a list.
2. Click on the Start a new article option at the bottom of the page.
3. Enter a title for the new article in the box provided and press the Continue button.
4. The text editor works very much like a word-processor; enter text as normal and use the toolbar at the top of the screen to change the appearance of the text.
5. To insert a table use the insert table button and select the number of rows and columns you require. Use the buttons in the table section of the toolbar to change the appearance of the table you have created.
6. To insert an image use the  insert image button; a new window will open allowing you to select one of two options:
- Transfer an image from your computer - this option allows you to select a .gif or .jpg format image stored on your computer and use it in your document. Click the browse button to locate the image on your computer.
- Use an image from the internet - select this option to use an image from another web site; follow the instructions on-screen to locate the image you wish to use.
The image will be displayed in your article shortly afterwards.
Submitting the article
7. Once the document is complete press the Next button to continue:
8. Select which group you feel is the most appropriate location for your article and press the Submit button to complete the process. An administrator will review and then publish the document in due course.
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Audio / Video Guide
The Audio & Video area of the web site allows you to watch the latest videos and listen to the latest recordings from your church. This quick start guide explains how to make the most of this feature.
Introduction
Audio and video recordings can be found in one of two different places:
- Some articles in the recent articles list have the
 or  symbol after the title; this signifies that a recording accompanies the text. Click on the title to see the options for playing back the recording at the top of the article.
- From the home menu select the:
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Audio / Video
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option; a list of all available recordings will be displayed shortly afterwards. Recordings can be sorted by the order in which they were added (Recent Additions), the date they were recorded (Recording Date), or the number of downloads (Downloads). Alternatively you can search for a specific recording using the search options at the top of the list.
Playing a Recording
The title of each recording is displayed alongside a description and the speaker/artist as well as details of the recording date, number of downloads and length as illustrated below:
If the recording is associated with an article click the article title on the right-hand side to display the article contents.
If you are using Microsoft Windows® and Windows Media Player click the listen link to play the recording; a media player window will open allowing you to control playback. If you are using any other media player click the download link to play the recording in your default player.
Saving a Recording to Hard Disk
You can save any recording to your computer hard disk, allowing you to listen to it again at a later date.
- Right-click (or option-click if you are using a macintosh) on the download link and select Save Target As....
- Choose a location to store the recording and enter an appropriate name in the file name box.
- Click the Save button to begin the download process.
Once the download is complete click the open button to begin playing the recording.
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How to allow pop-ups and cookies
To make the most of the site you will need to set your web browser up to allow both pop-ups and cookies.
To do this follow the instructions as appropriate:
Internet Explorer
Go to Tools>Pop-up Blocker>Pop-up Blocker Settings, type in www.standrewsoxford.org and then click Add
then go to Tools>Internet Options>Privacy>Sites, type in www.standrewsoxford.org, then click on Allow then click OK
Firefox
Go to Help (F1) and then look at the two headings "Controlling Popups" and "Managing Cookies" and follow the instructions.
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