A recent email exchange about the Worship Window

From: Pastor FirstName, LastName
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2020 3:30 PM
To: Mark Buelsing  <markb@letitshine.biz>
Subject: Re: Bulletin for this sunday

Mark, I am so grateful for the work you’ve put into making this site and am happy to use it! So far, though fairly easy, it is more work to create a bulletin this way than to put things into a Word document that already has all the things I need in the right order. I imagine it’s less work or about equal for Sammuel and Jodi? All that said, if we feel like we want all the services to have a similar vibe, I’m happy to do it! Does all that make sense to you?

Peace,

My Church Name

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From: Mark Buelsing <markb@letitshine.biz>
Date: Friday, May 22, 2020 at 4:57 PM
To: Pastor FirstName, LastName
Subject: RE: Bulletin for this sunday

Pastor FirstName,

There would be some value in having all the services look similar. There is value in that.

The PDF bulletin is well-done, attractive and clean. I like it. The reason for making the Worship Window is not about standardizing the worship services. The key point in my mind is what is the best experience for the user at home? That is something I must focus on all the time in my business. Presentation is everything.

The thing is, when we put a pdf bulletin on the website. A person will open it easily and see it as you intended it to be seen. All Good. The problem, if we can agree it is a problem, is when someone clicks on a link the url opens in the same browser tab. We have temporarily lost them to a new place on the internet at that point. They must hit “back” to return to the bulletin. I know many people have no problem with that. I also know many people will close the tab with the “X” when they are finished with the video. I have silently watched many people do this quick-close thing instead of hitting Back. Once they have closed the tab, they have lost their way. The bulletin is now gone. If they have the presence of mind they can re-open a closed tab. But if they think of doing that and accomplish it, they still have to click the Back button now to return to the Bulletin. Candidly, that is a lot of futzing around in the middle of a worship service with your family looking over your shoulder waiting for you to “fix it.”

The second issue is when you do click the video link and watch the video and hit the Back button appropriately, well, at least for me but I think it is really common, the pdf has lost my place. It goes back to the beginning of the PDF. At best, it’s disorienting. If you have a number of video links, this behavior starts to get a little frustrating. 

We just don’t want to be the bringers of “frustration” when doing something as noble as creating a wonderful, multimedia, age-appropriate worship service.

I set up the Worship Window so that all those little frustrations and futzes are removed and managed. The user simply scrolls. No overlapping tabs. All good again. Users with low computer skills can accomplish scrolling. Overlapping and closed windows? Not so much.

Now, I know I’ve run on a bit, but I beg you to permit me another minute. You know how YouTube videos have suggestions for other videos that pop up at the end of the one you are watching? Well, those suggested videos are sometimes not quite appropriate for a church-going audience. Further, those suggestions now pop-up even when you simply pause a video. They nag at you.

I do not want them there when I show a video to the Confirmation students for sure. You never know what is going to pop up. Well, when we embed a video into a website, meaning, the Worship Window, then we can insert a little code in there that changes the nature of those pop-ups. Now they only show the other videos in the same account at YouTube.com and there are less of them. That is so much nicer. You can’t do that code in a link from a PDF.  This point may be minor to some people, but it is important to others. I find myself in the latter group.

For the past few weeks, I have edited all the youtube videos in all three services for this church and added that little code to manage those suggested videos. In the future, the Worship Window will add it automatically.

We’ve covered conquering the frustrations, now let’s mention the pluses.

• Users with lower computer skills can handle the simple scrolling environment. We serve more of our congregation and leave less people behind.
• The Worship Window makes it easy to add a video with a picture placeholder into the service flow.
• You can also put a pdf into the flow as simple as choosing the file off your drive. It will not overlap the rest of the content. Multiple pdfs usually cover each other up.
• You can’t easily add a pdf into another pdf without special software. This is easier.
• The Worship Window resizes on it’s own to fit any screen
• The Worship Window helps you provide song lyrics and sheet music with simple uploads.
• AND, the sheet music can be scrolled below a song video without the video sliding up and off the screen. PDF’s can’t do any of that.
• It is easy to move sections around in the flow of the service.
• You can have multiple people inserting their pieces into the Worship Window. There does not need to be a one-person bottleneck who must configure the service document.
• In short the Worship Window creates a better presentation for both the creator and the user. Much better.

I hope that wasn’t too much detail. I was on a roll. Either way, I support your preferred way to produce your church Bulletin.

Mark

WorshipWindow.com

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From: Pastor FirstName, LastName
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2020 7:40 PM
To: Mark Buelsing  <markb@letitshine.biz>
Subject: Re: Bulletin for this sunday

Response

Mark, you are a treasure. Thank you for such a fulsome and compassionate response! I hope it comes across that I appreciate all the work you’re doing and that it’s an amazing platform!

What you say makes complete sense in terms of accessibility if nothing else, for sure. I will add all the things to the Window tonight.

Peace,

My Church Name

_________________________

From: Pastor FirstName, LastName
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2020 8:26 PM
To: Mark Buelsing  <markb@letitshine.biz>
Subject: Re: Bulletin for this sunday

The thing is done!

Peace,

My Church Name