So far we have covered installing WordPress and creating the main content of your site in the form of posts and pages, the main building blocks of a WordPress site. One of the great things about WordPress is the ability to extend its features and functions by installing additional plugins and using widgets.
Widgets! What are they?
In the Appearance section of the WordPress dashboard, you will find a sub-section entitled Widgets. It is a strange word but most themes have at least one or two sidebars where each section is a widget. A widget is a small element of content that you can manage and customise. In the Appearances section of the dashboard you can add, remove and move up/down widgets for showing links, posts, calendars and all sorts of different features. Many themes now have several areas of the layout that can be customised with widgets.
Adding Widgets in the Appearance Section
When you first install WordPress a number of widgets are available that can be dragged into any widgetized section of your theme. You can add to the standard set of widgest by installing additional WordPress plugins.
Anything is possible with the Text Widget
One of the most useful widgets is the text widget, because with this widget you can add your own html content, giving you limitless possibilities. The text widget is particuarly useful when you want to embed content generated by other online applications. For example, you can use the text widget to embed your Google calendar in your sidebar (see tutorial from themeloom.com).
Getting more with plugins
While the default set of widgets are useful, it is possible to add more by installing WordPress plugins. There are literally thousands of plugins available that can be used to extend the functionality of your site. Many of these will add additional widgets to your dashboard. The best place to start if you are looking for a particular additional feature, is to browse the WordPress plugin directory. The most common requirements for church applications are explored below.
Publish your calendar of events
Every church has events to manage, so a calendar is essential on any WordPress-driven church site. This tutorial on the themeloom explores the different options available for integrating Google calendar. The rs-event plugin is a great way to manage events within WordPress itself. There is also a multi-day version of this plugin available. Other event calendar plugins are available in the plugin directory, and the most appropriate solution depends on how you use and manage your calendar for other purposes. Using Google calendar is certainly the most popular route.
Add a contact form
All websites need a contact form. It is a really bad idea to publish your e-mail address as this can be picked up by spammers. The best way is to add a page and use a plugin like Contact Form 7 to add a contact form.
Share Audio and Video of your services
The web is a great place for people to catch up on your services and preaching. Many churches use the web to publish audio or video of their services. You can manage your media using the standard WordPress media tools. Then you can use plugins like this one to install an audio player. The SSG plugin installs the Google audio player and automatically embeds the player for any links to mp3 files. This Audio Player plugin is also a favourite of mine.
Hosting video content yourself can be costly in bandwidth, so you are best using services like YouTube and vimeo to host your videos. You can then embed the video using the code generated by these services or find a plugin that will manage this for you.
Other options include more complex plugins like the Blubrry PowerPress Podcasting plugin, and others like it that allow you to publish your mdeia to itunes and other services. Some of these support both audio and video formats.
Show people where you are
I have lost count of the number of church websites I’ve seen that don’t tell you where to find the church. So you must add a map and with services like Google maps and Bing Maps around this couldn’t be easier. Actually you don’t need a plugin to do this. Just grab the embed code these services provide and paste it into a page on your site. Note: You will need to use the html editing mode of the page editor.
If your church is always on the move, with events all over town, then you might find a plugin like MapPress useful.
Installing a plugin
There are two ways of installing a plugin. You can browse the plugin directory from with your WordPress dashboard and once you find your chosen plugin, click install. The altnerative is to download the plugin, usually in zip format, unzip and ftp the contents to the wp-content/plugins folder on your site.
Most plugins have additional settings that can be configured from the dashboard’s Settings section.
With the many plugins and widgets available there are very few things you can’t do with WordPress. It is possible to fill your sidebars with all sorts of distractions. It is important therefore that a church website’s content is focussed and attractive to users. You can break the design of the site and its function by installing too many widgets.
