SteepleConnect is excited to bring lots of new exciting updates to the SteepleConnect church website product this week! Here's a quick overview:
1. PDF file uploads and links for sermons
2. "Publish" functionality for blogs
3. Admin email notification of Church Connection requests
4. Image Previews in Admin
5. Realtime feedback during file uploads
6. Links and Youtube videos fully supported in comments
7. Look and Feel updates for the Administrative panel
8. Total revamp of email notification (back-end) code.
Lets break down each one of these and see how they'll help you and your church going forward.
1. PDF File Uploads and Links for Sermons
Everybody loves the ability to upload sermon audio and have it be auto-converted, but we've had many requests for the ability to associate a file or a link with sermons as well. This capability has now arrived! Simply click the "Paperclip" icon to upload an associated PDF file to a sermon the same way you would upload an audio file. (Don't know how to create a PDF? SteepleConnect recommends
BullZip which will allow you to virtually "print" any file as a PDF.) Additionally, you can now provide a link with a sermon - to a Google Docs file, a SteepleConnect page, or whatever else you decide!
2. "Publish" functionality for blogs
With the new "Publish" functionality, you can work on a blog for as long as you need until you've decided that it is polished and done. It won't actually show up on your church's website until you click the "publish" button. Additionally, once blog subscriptions are enabled, the Publish button will kick off an email to everyone who is subscribed with the full contents of that blog entry. Communicating with your church couldn't be easier!
3. Admin email notification of Church Connection requests
Admins - Stop worrying that somebody submitted a new church connection request without you knowing! With this new feature, whenever somebody attempts to connect with a church, all the admins at that church will get an email notification. It's just that easy!
4. Image Previews in Admin
Clicking on images in the image panel of the admin tool now pops up a simple preview without forcing you to leave the site. Simple.
5. Realtime feedback during file uploads
Stop wondering if your image/sermon/file upload is finished. With new realtime feedback, you'll see visual notification that the upload is still taking place, and additional feedback when it's done. Additionally, with Red/Yellow/Green indications on sermon audio upload processing, you'll know exactly what the status is of your sermon upload.
6. Links and Youtube videos fully supported in comments
We've gotten tons of great feedback on the new comments feature we implemented last week, and we've used it to make it even better! Links and youtube videos can be embedded right inside the comment wall. (You don't have to do anything special, just copy/paste) Facilitating communication on your church's SteepleConnect website has never be easier!
7. Look and Feel updates for the Administrative panel
Look around, they might be subtle, but we think you're going to like what you see! Also, all deletions now have confirmations so accidental deletions should now be a thing of the past.
8. Total revamp of email notification (back-end) code.
This one gets awfully technical, but suffice to say it's a good thing. What it means for you? Look forward to lots of new email subscription options for blogs/pages/comment walls/etc over the coming weeks.
... Well that's pretty much it. There are a lot of new exciting changes getting pushed in this latest update and we hope you enjoy using them as much as we did implementing them! As always feel free to
contact us with questions. We look forward to hearing from you!
- The SteepleConnect Team
