The Unitarian Universalist Web TemplatesThe Unitarian Universalist Web TemplatesLocated at www.uuism.org/templateproject
Last updated October 31, 2010
Every Unitarian Universalist congregation should have a web site, both as an effective way for prospective members to find you and for you to provide information for your existing members. However, creating a well-designed and easy-to-use web site takes technical expertise. The UU Web Templates Project may be the solution for you. They are free for all UU organizations.
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The Sunflower design |
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The Blue-Green design |
The UU Web Templates are pre-designed web sites that you can adapt for your UU congregation. If you don't yet have a congregational web site, or if you want to replace your existing pages with a professionaly designed site, you can install a UU Web Template and adapt it for your congregation's use.
You have your choice of these professionally created graphic designs:
If you have web editing and style sheet skills, you can modify the colors and typefaces used in the designs. Additional designs may be added later. If you have graphic skills and want to see your design become part of these templates, we invite your contribution!
A sample front page looks like this.
The templates come with a small number of pages, enough for a basic congregational site:
The congregation's webweaver can log in on an administrative page, to display the web site in "edit mode." Each web page includes "Edit" links that you can use to change the text and pictures on the page. These Edit links are visible only to someone who knows the administrative login page, username, and password. When they are visible, you can use them to make changes by following the instructions on the web pages displayed in your web browser. This system allows congregation leaders to make changes to your site without knowing HTML or having a web page editing software. Your minister can update a "News from the Minister" article on the home page, and your RE chair can update the RE information on the Children & Youth page!
Everything you need is right here on this page, including instructions for downloading, installing, and confiugring your new web site. Or, e-mail the UU Template Project at templates@uuism.org and ask for a CD of the files.
You can get help with installation and design by e-mailing templates@uuism.org. Or, join the UUTemplates mailing list:
If your congregation uses the UU Web Templates, please consider making a donation to help defray the cost of the project. Please write to templates@uuism.org.
A programmer has created a program to apply the graphic changes to an entire previously-existing web site. If you know the Perl programming langauge, you can adapt the script for use on your congregation's site.
The UU Web Template designs are also available as Photoshop files, for those comforable designing web sites. The Photoshop files contain the original graphic artwork separated into layers, but someone will need to convert the Photoshop files into individual graphics (jpeg, gif, or png) and HTML for your congregation. These files are for those who are comfortable working in Photoshop and using a web page editor to create web pages. If you don't have Adobe Photoshop, The Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free replacement from www.gimp.org but not recommended for the faint of heart.
The UU Web Template project was funded in part by the Fund for Unitarian Universalism, and was also supported by the Prairie Star District of the Unitarian Universalist Association. The project was managed by Diana Allen at the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, MN. The graphic files were created by Essential Services, Inc. Programming was done by Matt Newberry (www.newberry.net), Matt Baron, and Craig Smith. Margy Levine Young wrote the documentation. Other volunteers include Mark Gibbons and Barbara Weatherhead.
http://www.uuism.org/templateproject/