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PRIEST'S CORNER OF THE WEB user guideHere is some basic information about this site and its usage, and information about how you or your ministry can make the most of the resources available here. This page will help you check your monitor resolution, provide advice for dialup modem users, for images & sound, link exchanges and our terms of use. This site may not be compatible with Netscape browsers earlier than version 6 or Microsoft browsers earlier than 5.5.. User Guide |
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I need help with Windows Vista Sorry, I know nothing about Microsoft's new operating system other than that I do not recommend it. Microsoft's marketing department wants you to believe Windows XP is on its last legs and that you must now race out and buy Windows Vista. What they don't tell you is Windows Vista will require you to either make huge upgrades to your existing PC or buy a new PC in order to run Vista properly. You *can* conceivably run Windows Vista on an old Pentium III with 128 MB of RAM. You can also, conceivably, drive a car that only has three tires on it. But you really wouldn't want to.
it'll be a much better program 18 months from now, after all the people who have rushed forward and spent enormous money upgrading and installing have worked the bugs out of it for them. In the meantime, despite what Microsoft wants you to believe, there is absolutely no reason to upgrade to Windows Vista. Other than the cute AeroGlass cosmetic stuff--which requires 2Gb (that's Gigabytes) of RAM to run--Windows Vista is merely a further Apple Macintoshing of the Windows platform. Which, actually, is a good thing, but not a vital thing for you to spend your money on. The new features come at a cost, though, requiring the basic machine to have 1 gig of memory, at least 40 gigabytes of free hard drive space and an advanced graphics card. Many of the computers sitting in users' homes and offices just are not compatible with Vista. The biggest bump in sales for the new operating system comes when consumers and businesses buy new computers preloaded with Vista. [ABCNews.Com] At least two federal government agencies are refusing to upgrade their computers with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista operating system, citing concern over costs and compatibility issues. In a Jan. 19 memo to staff, Dan Mintz, the Transportation Department's chief information officer, imposed an "indefinite moratorium" on upgrading desktop and laptop computers with the new operating system, Office 2007 and Internet Explorer 7. Mintz wrote that there is "no compelling technical or business case" to upgrade to the new products and specific reasons not to upgrade. He cited hardware, software and labor costs, compatibility issues with current applications and limited funding. He also wrote technology staff will be busy with the agency's move to a new headquarters. The memo says the software only may be acquired for testing purposes and only with the CIO's approval. I do not plan to install Vista before the summer of '08. Between now and then, if you have any Vista-related problems, unfortunately, I won't be able to help you. If your PC runs fast and runs fine on XP, I recommend patching XP with all the latest security and operating patches, and simply be happy. Otherwise, I need to refer you to Microsoft's incredibly difficult to understand website. |
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Quicktime files freeze or crash, website freezes or crashes
Links open as new windows unexpectedly, music does not play but windows pop open instead Explorer 7 also has an extremely annoying over-protective safety feature that treats praisenet.org and www.praisenet.org as if they were two different web sites, blocking content marked www.praisenet.org from appearing on a website loaded without the "www" (http://praisenet.org for instance). As a result, some features may not function unless you tell Internet Explorer 7 to stop blocking cross-domain content. How the average user is supposed to know this is anybody's guess. If you are on eStyle or LifeLines or other special areas of this site, and you find navigation buttons end up opening new windows instead of loading the page where it belongs, this is probably the cause: Internet Explorer 7's idiotic new safety protocol, which they do not tell you (1) is there or (2) how to turn it off. I know it's a hassle, and most people won't bother, but to get the best results from our website, we advise you to disable this nonsense. Click here to see how. My Internet Explorer Window is overgrown with toolbars! Help! Phonogram.us has been re-coded to open in a new window when you come through the main entrance. The new window is designed to eliminate any add-on toolbars you may have installed and present a streamlined browser window for reading the site. If you prefer to keep your window as is, click the "enter" link from the start page rather than the cover graphic, and the site will load in your normal browser window. Many software providers unscrupulously include toolbars from Yahoo! and Google and others in their software downloads. For instance, when installing a Java update from Sun Microsystems, the default installation adds a Google Toolbar to your web browser. When installing Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe, by default, installs a Google Toolbar. Before long, without even realizing it, your window has become cluttered with all of this useless junk. Note these toolbars also "call home" when you boot your PC, which means they connect to the Internet and to their home sites to ask if there are updates available, slowing your PC down and making you wait for this idiot process to complete every time you boot up. Web browser add-on toolbars suck, and most everyone has them cluttering up their windows. Explorer 7 includes a streamlined interface with tabbed browsing and a customizable search engine. Yu do not need extra toolbars for anything. They're just junk. Let's get rid of them: You can dump your toolbars simply by going to your control panel (START--CONTROL PANEL--ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS). Scroll through and zap anything that says "Toolbar." That's the best way, just eradicate them.
Alternatively, you can disable them from within Explorer by clicking on TOOLS--MANAGE ADD-ONS--ENABLE OR DISABLE ADD-ONS. Find the toolbars you don't want and disable them. Also disable any notifiers or supporting programs as well.
You can also get rid of useless stuff like the Menu Bar and Links toolbar. You'll rarely use them. Click TOOLS and un-check MENU BAR, then select TOOLBARS and de-select LINKS. When you're done, LOCK your toolbar.
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Video/Audio doesn't play when I click them
This usually means the version of QUicktime installed on your machine is out of date and needs to be updated. Click here to update your version of Quicktime.
To update your version of Windows Media Player, click here. Video files are formatted for a broadband or high-speed Internet connection. These are very big files, 5-100 Megabytes in size. If you are on a dial-up connection, there will be a very long wait for these videos to play, and your connection may time out, which means they may not play at all. |
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Phonogram.us has changed our base resolution from the old standard 800x600 pixels SVGA (Super Video Graphics Array) to the current industry standard 1024x768 XGA (Extended Graphics Array) resolution. If you don't know what we are talking about, that's fine. Chances are you may not even notice the change. Unfortunately, now that LCD monitors are becoming cheaper, everybody's running out and buying these "widescreen" monitors--which actually don't serve much purpose other than allowing users to brag about owning a "widescreen" monitor. Most users will still open their Internet Explorer windows fully, using up the entirety of the screen area, so you'll still only be able to see one window open at a time. Additionally, "widescreen" monitors usually require decent video cards that support the WXGA (Widescreen Extended Graphics Array) standard, a version of the XGA format typically used for notebook computers. Hint: if your PC is beige, it won't support a "widescreen" monitor. Most users don't realize this, and just plug in the "widescreen" monitors, which then end up stretching everything wide across the screen because the PC's video can't handle the higher resolution. For best results, we recommend viewing Phonogram.us at a resolution of 1024x768 pixels. If you own one of those "widescreen" monitors or visit Phonogram.us using a notebook computer, we recommend you set your monitor to either 1280x800 or 1280x720 if you can't hit the 800 mark. Resolutions higher than 1280 will tend to make everything look tiny (unless you own a HUGE monitor), and the eStyle and LifeLines windows will look way too small. |
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I have problems reading Phonogram.us eMail
I get annoying warnings
from Internet Explorer Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, has incorporated new safety tools in windows XP. If you own a new computer or have automatic updates turned on, your computer has likely installed Windows XP Service Pack 2, which incorporates these new safety features. While they have definite advantages, these new features also come with cumbersome warnings and alerts that most people do not know how to turn off. Phonogram.us's new eMail is formatted like a web page. Most newer eMail readers like Microsoft Outlook and Eudora should be able to display HTML eMail messages properly. Phonogram.us's eMail uses a wallpaper graphic that should download when the message displays. If your computer is very old or very new, you may experience problems with this function. Older computers may not be capable of displaying HTML eMail messages. Phonogram.us's eMail messages should display in plain text. Newer machines, running Windows XP Service Pack 2 or higher, have annoying security protocols in place which may prevent the wallpaper from downloading from Phonogram.us's web site. If you do not see our wallpaper in eMail sent from Phonogram.us, your computer is probably blocking the image. If you use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express: right-click on the message in the In Box window, select Junk Mail and then Add Sender's Domain To Your Safe Sender's List. Phonogram.us's wallpaper should display once you've informed your computer that we're okay! To use Phonogram.us's website (and eMail) with the new, over-protective Windows XP Service Pack 2, we strongly suggest you add Phonogram.us to your list of Trusted Websites. Click TOOLS and choose INTERNET OPTIONS.
In the INTERNET OPTIONS window, select SECURITY. Click on TRUSTED SITES. DE-SELECT the little box that says “Require Server Verification.” Add these domains to your Trusted Sites (you can copy and paste them): https://secure15.inmotionhosting.com
Click CLOSE. Click CUSTOM LEVEL.
Now this is tricky, but scroll thru the Custom Level settings until you see, under "Miscellaneous," Navigate sub-frames across different domains. Click ENABLE.
Click OK. Click OK again to close Internet Options. REFRESH this page. For eStyle or LifeLines, close the popup window and re-launch the site. Try starting over. Now that you have added this web site to your Trusted Sites List, the site should load normally. |
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firewalls & privacy protection Ok, I added the site to my Trusted Sites list, and there are still problems! Many new home computers come with firewalls and other privacy protections preinstalled. Unfortunately, many of these products re-write web pages “on the fly,” adding proprietary code that interferes with web pages as they load. Many of these products require you to be a rocket scientist to understand how to use them. Here are some basic steps you can take to assure your over-protective firewall that this site is, indeed, safe to view. If these steps do not help, please contact our webmaster for additional help.
Windows XP Service
Pack 2 Firewall
Click SITES:
Type in the following web site addresses
(you can copy and paste them). https://secure15.inmotionhosting.com Click OK. Then click the SETTINGS button in the Pop-up Blocker section:
Type in the following web site addresses (you can copy and paste them): https://secure15.inmotionhosting.com Click CLOSE and then OKAY to exit.
Norton Internet Security Firewall If you have Norton (NIS) installed, there should be a pull-down menu in the upper right-hand corner of your Internet Explorer Window. Click that menu and, from the list, choose the security settings for this site (Allow PopUps and so forth). If that does not help, your firewall settings are probably set very high, which will require you to configure your firewall to access this site. This is a little complicated, and we apologize for the hassle, but we're not making this stuff up:
Screenshot 1 - Norton Internet Security 1. Open Norton Internet Security 2. Click on Privacy Control 3. Click on "Configure” button
Screenshot 2 - Privacy Control 4. In Privacy Control - Click on the Advanced button
Screenshot 3 - Advanced Web Contents Options 5. Click on the Add Site button
Screenshot 4 - New Site/Domain 6. Type in the following web site address (you can copy and paste them): 7. click OK
8. Select each new domain you have just added 9. under "information about visited sites”
10. Return to Step 5 and add the list of domains listed below: https://secure15.inmotionhosting.com That should tell Norton to stop messing with the site. MacAfee's firewall configures similarly, see your owner's manual for details. |
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I keep hearing “clicks” from your web pages. It's really annoying Phonogram.us uses scripts that rotate pages and features within pages. Internet Explorer has a “click” feature most people don't know how to or even realize they can turn off. If you have more than one explorer window open, these clicks can get really annoying. Luckily, you can turn this feature off. Click START—CONTROL PANELS—SOUNDS and select SOUNDS and AUDIO DEVICES. Select the SOUNDS tab, scroll down to Windows Explorer, and find the START NAVIGATION sound. In the pulldown menu below it, you will see the sound selected for this activity, 'Windows XP Start.' If you click the arrow to the right of it, you will confirm this is, indeed, that annoying click sound. Select NONE from the pulldown menu (it is at the top of the list). You can then click SAVE AS and name this sound scheme something (so it'll be easier to turn the click back on, though I can't imagine why anyone would want to. It's among Microsoft's more annoying innovations, and turning it off should be a LOT easier than this). |
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The graphics look blurry and pixilated. What's up with that? If you are using AOL, many of our graphics may appear blurred or pixilated. This is because AOL uses a graphics compression scheme that saves you time downloading but makes the graphics look absolutely terrible. If you are using an “optimized” or “high speed” dialup connection, most likely your “top speed” or “optimized” dialup connection achieves its speed by short-changing you on the graphics: by downloading low-resolution alternatives to our graphics. We work very hard to create the best quality graphics we can achieve at a minimum file size for optimum downloading speed. Whether you want fast speed or better-looking graphics is ultimately your choice. To improve the quality of your visit here, you should turn compressed graphics OFF in your web browser. Information on how to do that can be found below. TOP OF PAGE |
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I'm using AOL to view the site and the site doesn't seem to work.
We STRONGLY discourage use of AOL's built-in web browser to view this web site. Instead, we encourage you to login to AOL (if that is your only internet connection) and, once you've logged on, launch Internet Explorer by clicking START and selecting INTERNET EXPLORER. Then load our web site in MSIE. To log off, you must exit AOL. You have to go out the way you came in. If you used AOL to connect to the Internet, you must exit AOL when you wish to disconnect. Otherwise your computer will continue to redial into AOL to attempt to re-establish your Internet connection. This sounds more complicated than it actually is. Why the site doesn't work with AOL: AOL's web browser LOOKS like Microsoft Internet Explorer, but it is NOT MSIE. Microsoft and AOL had a falling out a little bit ago, and Microsoft no longer properly supports AOL's program. AOL wants to sell you stuff. AOL wants to push stuff on you and control what you see on your computer screen. Thus, AOL will not allow you to view websites in full screen mode. Full screen mode covers AOL completely, and AOL will not allow that. AOL uses compressed graphics by default. This doesn't allow JavaScript to work while browsing inside AOL (additionally, this makes photos you view on web pages look less than optimal). If you are bound and determined to use AOL's crummy web browser, you could try switching the graphics to UNCOMPRESSED and dumping the browser cache. Believe me, launching Internet Explorer is MUCH EASIER and SIMPLER and MORE EFFECTIVE. But, if you're a die-hard AOL fan, try this: 1. Click Settings. 2. Click Preferences.
3. Click Internet Properties (WWW).
4. Click Web Graphics tab. 5. Check Never Compress Graphics.
6. Click OK Restart the computer. If the site STILL does not load properly, I strongly urge you to not use AOL's browser. Launch Internet Explorer as directed above.
If you are using AOL, many of our graphics may appear blurred or pixilated. This is because AOL uses a graphics compression scheme that saves you time downloading but makes the graphics look absolutely terrible. If you are using an “optimized” or “high speed” dialup connection, most likely your “top speed” or “optimized” dialup connection achieves its speed by short-changing you on the graphics: by downloading low-resolution alternatives to our graphics. We work very hard to create the best quality graphics we can achieve at a minimum file size for optimum downloading speed. Whether you want fast speed or better-looking graphics is ultimately your choice. To improve the quality of your visit here, you should turn compressed graphics OFF in your web browser. Information on how to do that can be found here. |
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I Clicked A Link And Nothing Happened! This Website Is So SLOW! Most of the pages on this site use a transitional effect that blends the incoming page with the existing one. In order for this effect to work, your computer must draw the new page before it releases the old page. If you click a link and nothing happens, your computer is probably assembling the new page, downloading the graphics and getting the page completely drawn before it releases the page you are on. This slowness is especially evident if you are using a dial-up modem connection. Once you have visited the site a few times, this wait will become less and less of an issue, as your Web Browser will be storing many of these images in its memory (cache). One thing you should do, if you are using a dialup modem connection: check your connection speed. Click on the flashing dual terminal icon on the task bar and see how fast your connection is. The fastest dialup connection speed currently available is 56.6 kbs. But, just because your modem says it's 56.6kps doesn't mean you are actually getting that speed. Your actual speed is whatever your phone company lets you have. If your actual speed is 33kps or less, this site will load very slowly and likely drive you nuts. If you have a poor connection speed, check your manuals for the manufacturer of your modem. Then visit your modem manufacturer's web site to download the latest driver for you modem. This may help increase your modem's efficiency. TOP OF PAGE |
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We've received reports that our cascading style sheets render the site's type nearly microscopic on Macintosh platforms. We've recently re-coded our style sheets to pixels instead of points, which should maintain uniform sizing across platforms. MacFolk: if all the type here looks teeny, check that your screen monitor is set appropriately. If you're using MSIE 5.0 for Mac, we've experienced some odd behavior with that browser, as it likes to render everything as Tiny Town. Try adjusting the browser itself in the View menu, select Text Zoom and see if that helps. We've been told MSIE 5.5 for Mac is a huge improvement.
Source: Yale Web Design Style Manual © 2002
Macintosh users can obtain the Mac TrueType versions of the
major Windows TypeType fonts listed above by downloading and
installing Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.5 for Macintosh. If
all the type here looks teeny, check that your screen resolution
is set appropriately. If you're using MSIE 5.0 for Mac, our own
experience has been... odd... with that browser, as it likes to
render everything as Tiny Town. Try adjusting the browser
itself in the
View menu,
select Text
Zoom
and see if that helps. We've been told MSIE 5.5 for Mac
is a huge improvement.
Here are some basic guidelines for
setting your monitor's
resolution: This site should
look fine if your monitor is set to these resolutions:
If
you set your monitor rez higher than these typical
guidelines, the site will appear smaller. If you set your rez
lower than these guidelines, the site will appear bigger.
You can access your monitor's resolution in the control panel
(Windows) by clicking on START— SETTINGS— CONTROL PANEL. On a
Mac— click CONTROL PANEL (the light switch icon in your OSX
dock. Under the old system (9.x and earlier) click on the Apple Menu and selected CONTROL PANELS— MONITORS
& SOUND.
Or, you can ignore all of this, and forge ahead anyway Thanks again for visiting! |
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If this is your first visit, you may notice a lot of these pages take a very long time loading. Particularly if you are using a dialup modem connection (as opposed to a cable modem or DSL, ISDN or T1 connection, as many people have at work). You do not need a high-speed connection to visit this website, but if you are using a dialup connection, you will need a little patience. This site is fairly graphics intensive, and some pages also have fairly large MP3 files that download when you access those pages for the first time. Once you've visited these pages, and patiently waited for the graphics and sound to download, your next visit should be no wait at all. Your web browser, ideally, should cache these pages and these images so, on your next visit, the page should load much faster. TOP OF PAGE |
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Please do not link to images or sounds on this site. You may be able to make limited use media from this site for your personal use, so long as appropriate copyright and trademark notices remain intact. I do not own most of these images, but they are not in the public domain, and the rights of the respective copyright owners must be protected. Please do not link to sounds or images here for your site. Your site's traffic will be using our bandwidth, and we get charged for that. Linking to images on this site is, in effect, stealing bandwidth, and is subject to legal action. If you want to use sounds or images found here, please upload them on your own server and do not link to this one. Any use of any sound(s) and/or image(s) found here is at user's own risk, and may be subject to conditions of the copyright owner(s). Please see our TERMS OF USE for additional information. Thanks! |
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terms of use
4. Copyrighted Material
5. The opinions expressed on this site should be considered as
the subjective opinion or viewpoint of the contributor.
GPE and
its personnel make no warranties or representations as to the
accuracy or completeness of the information or items in or
related to the Site. GPE and its personnel assume no liability
or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the content of
the Site. The information in the Site may be out of date, and
GPE makes no commitment to update such information. Text and
other items available on the Site may also be subject to
additional disclaimers and conditions. |
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GRACE PHONOGRAM eMEDIA does not collect or maintain user information about visitors, other than eMail addresses of parties corresponding with GPE. We do not sell or lease GPE mailing list(s), nor do we make any information about our visitors available to any parties. Weblog and message board posts are public areas. If you include your eMail and web address in your post, it will be made public when you publish to this site.
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I'm
sure Windows Vista is a terrific program.
But I am also sure
This
site is not compatible with AOL's built-in web browser. Their
web browser looks like Microsoft Internet Explorer, but it is
really a proprietary version of MSIE, designed to block and
interfere with web sites AOL doesn't like. Many of our Special
edition pages are designed to be viewed in Kiosk or “Full
Screen: mode, and AOL's web browser does not permit that.
This
site is not Mac compatible.
Microsoft no longer supports MSIE for Mac, and this site
may
not load properly on Mac's Safari browser. For best results,
view with Internet Explorer on Windows XP.
Surfing the web on a Mac means some sites will load just fine on Safari, but
a lot won’t. Safari has trouble reading cascading style sheets (CSS), and
chokes on non-W3C compliant code. So you can try switching over to IE on a
Mac, and maybe that site will look better on IE.
You can get Safari to imitate Internet Explorer, which is actually a pretty
neat trick. In fact, if you are surfing the net n a Mac, I’d recommend
setting your user agent to MSIE 6.0 (click “User Agent” from the Debug
menu). This way, Safari emulates Internet Explorer. It’s not a perfect
solution, but it helps.
