We hope you like the redesigned Via Media USA Web site. By the way, our site can be accessed using any of the following URLs: http://viamediausa.org, http://viamediausa.com, http://viamediausa.net, or http://viamediausa.us. (Prefixing “www” to any of the domains is optional.) The purpose of this page is to explain some of its features and help you get the most out of what we offer here.

Major Sections

This Web site has 9 major sections, which we describe here. (The site also has some features whose functionality is not immediately apparent, and some of those are described under Other Features, below.)

The major sections of the Web site are the following:

1. Home. The home page, like most pages on the site, includes a navigation menu on the left and search boxes at the left and at the right of the banner at the top of the page. If you have not logged in, a Log in form is also shown at the left. Unique to the front page is a listing of recent stories from Episcopal Life Online, which is displayed at the right. The main content of the home page may change from time to time, but it generally will display recent news items. (A complete list of current and former news items is available by clicking on News on the navigation menu.) News items on the home page are generally not shown in their entirety. Click on the Read more link to view the entire story. On the home page and elsewhere, you can also click on the title to view the entire story.
2. Getting Around. This page, explaining the features of the redesigned site.
3. About Us. The several pages here give basic information about Via Media USA: who we are, what our goals are, and how to contact us.
4. News. A listing of abbreviated news items in reverse chronological order. Click on a title to read the entire story.
5. Press Releases. A reverse chronological listing of press releases from Via Media USA and from Via Media groups. Not every press release from a Via Media group will be found here.
6. Resources. Correspondence, documents, a list of recommended Web links, and miscellaneous resources are found here.
7. Photo Galleries. Photos of Via Media activities. Clicking on the title of a gallery displays thumbnails of the gallery photos. There may be several pages of such thumbnails in a given gallery, and navigation buttons to move between pages will be displayed below the thumbnails if necessary. Clicking on a thumbnail will display the corresponding photo in a standard preview size. Clicking on the preview wil display the photo as a full-size graphic. The display of photos may be affected by browser settings that allow the browser to resize graphics so that they do not extend beyond the browser window. When viewing larger-size photos, navigation buttons at the right of the window allow you to move backward and forward among the photos in the gallery.
8. Blog. Via Media Blog offers an opportunity for members of Via Media groups to comment on church events. The blog accommodates comments, and visitors are encouraged to register with our site in order to be able to post comments.
9. Log Out. Log off site.

Other Features

1. Searching. The aforementioned search boxes largely work as you might expect. They search for “content.” If you do not find what you are looking for in this way, click on the Page tab after your search results are displayed. This expands the search to certain pages that only contain summaries of other material. Also, after doing a content search, you can click on Advanced Search to be afforded additional search options.
2. Tags in Photo Galleries. The photos in the various Photo Galleries have tags attached to them. Tags are simply terms that identify the content of a photo in some way. A photo from a General Convention, for example, will carry a “General Convention” tag. These tags, which are displayed above the photos, are actually clickable links. When you do so, you will be presented with one or more pages of thumbnails that have that tag in common. You may actually want to click on the tag representing the name of the gallery to get an overview of the gallery contents because the resulting view shows not only the photos, but titles, tags, and captions as well. The order of presentation may differ from that of photos viewed in other ways, however.
3. Tags, etc., in blog entries. Blog entries carry tags similar to those on photos, and clicking on them produces an analogous listing of similarly tagged posts. The Via Media Blog, of course, will carry posts from a number of writers, but by clicking on the writer’s name below the post, you can view the posts from that writer separately from those of other writers. Clicking on Add new comment, of course, will allow users who have logged in to comment on the current post.
4. Log in. Using the form at the left of most screens, you can log in so you can leave comments on blog posts. (Bloggers and others log in this way also.) If you are a new visitor, you can create an account, for which you must provide a username, e-mail address, and password. Users are encouraged to use their real neames as usernames (e.g., John Smith—spaces are allowed). In any case, comments left on the blog are subject to removal if your full name does not accompany your comment. If you forget your password, a password can be e-mailed to you, which is the primary reason for supplying your e-mail address.

We hope the foregoing has been helpful. If you have additional questions, please write to webmaster@viamediausa.org.