Who uses this service? Over 300 Union congregations have websites on our server, and around half that many have websites elsewhere linked from our directory of congregations.
Some congregations use their websites the same way they use publicity - to present a positive, inviting face to the world. One congregation in greater Boston reported that several people showed up a prospective member open house because they had seen the congregation's website.
Other congregations find their websites important tools for establishing and maintaining a strong Jewish presence in their communities and the world. And they find strength in being part of our Movement and represented by website in the Union directory of congregations.
Yet other congregations use their websites as a way to keep in touch with students and others who are living away from the local area. In one case, a young adult found the website of the congregation where he had been confirmed, he renewed contact with the rabbi via e-mail.
What is a URL and how do I establish links from other Web pages? A URL is an address of a file (Web page, image, etc.) on the Web. ("URL" is an abbreviation for "universal resource locator".) To establish links from other pages to yours, send mail to the owners of those pages requesting this, or use the forms provided at some sites for this purpose.
What is FTP? FTP - file transfer protocol - is a technology that can be used to move files of information between computer systems on the Internet. One of its many applications is to move HTML and image files from local systems to Web servers.
If you know some HTML, you are welcome to apply that knowledge in your use of the form, particularly in the "Other Information" field, to enhance its appearance with bold, italics, and links.
Adopt an incremental approach to website development; start small and grow both your skills and your results together.
Test your knowledge of HTML by "saving" your home page to your own system. Then edit it (for example, using "write" under Windows) to add new features or information, and see how it looks. Duplicate the page, edit the copy to contain some particular information (e.g., temple calendar) and link to the new page from the old, and see how they look. Repeat these steps.
At the same time, install FTP software and practice uploading any old file to your congregational website. Then, one day, upload the revised home page and any others you have created. Bingo! You're on the way!!!
And, please remember the best advice of all; find someone in your congregation who already has some of these skills and ask this person to accompany you through a couple of new experiences - editing a file, downloading FTP software, etc.
If you install a file named index.htm as a home page, you must delete the file named index.html installed when your account was created.
Links to pages and/or images were specified with characters in the wrong case. Web server software is case-sensitive.
Your website was created with software tools that generate links that fail when the pages are uploaded to a different server. Either review the instructions for using those tools or send a request for help to the urj-web discussion group including the name of the specific tools you used.
Note: At one time, another reason might have been the use of .htm rather than .html file name suffixes, but that restriction was eliminated on 1/26/97
How much space are we allowed? Each Union congregation is allotted at 200MB of disk space at no charge for their account. Only a small percentage of Union accounts have needed extra space beyond that quota. If you would like additional space, you may purchase this from us. Pricing for additional space can be found at http://urj.org/cpages/rates.
Multimedia: 
