This method will show you how to organize your website projects so that you will be successful in the media aspect of your New Thought Ministry. Good organization is one of the keys to success!
You will learn how to create a project folder, which will contain your website folder and additional folders which will hold original unprocessed (unrendered, unexported, raw) content for your web, such as raw pix which need to be edited for both size (width / height) and weight (kilobytes vs megabytes) for the web; research that provides you with source material for your text; notes which help you to focus your project and more.

You will discover that this organizational structure will be invaluable to easy progress with your website as you gather pictures, films, audio and more for your online media. All of which MUST be transformed, properly processed, or rendered before it is put on the web.

Below are screenshots to show you how to do this using a windows machine. An easy way to use this page is to print it out and then you will have a crib sheet to help you with this simple task. Another way is to simply keep this window open and go to Start in the lower left hand corner of your main screen, click on that and select My Computer ("Computer" on Vista and 7) then simply return to this window when you need to by clicking on the icon that represents this window in your tray (located at the bottom of your main screen).

The first picture below is a view of My Computer.
We place our webs on an E: drive, which is a 64gig flash drive.
We recommend that you use usb flash drives for back up storage of your center data,
including your media source files and website project folders.
You can easily get one at your local office supply store, get at least two 16gb drives
that way you will have two backups and you can take your data and lock it up in two separate locations.
Usually one is secured at the center and another at the ministers home.
If you can't afford to purchase a flash drive, you can use My Documents.
Just remember that data that is not backed up is data you must feel comfortable losing.

Although we are using the USB Webs Drive (E:),
the pic below shows how one can organize one's webs using a My Documents folder.

Notice that as you navigate through your the creation of your folders,
the title (name) of the folder in which you are working is on the title bar.
The title bar in XP is usually blue, but in Vista or 7 it might be black.
In some cases, if a person has "customized" his or her computer, it might be another color.
We have placed a large orange arrow on these pictures pointing to the title of each folder.
The title bar is important because it shows you which folder you are in, or which program you are using.
Now, inside the "My Documents " folder you have created your Master Folder.
This will hold your various Project Folders.
Double Click on your "My Internet - Master Folder" to open it.

5. Project Folder

Look on the title bar of your folder, which is usually blue, to the left of the orange arrow,
you should now be inside your "My Internet -Master Folder."
The master folder above has three projects!
This Spiritual Leader has a Personal Ministry Website,
is participating in a Prayer Circle website,
and has now created a Project folder for her NewThoughtCenter website.
This is a leader with a strong intention to grow her ministries.
She is obviously doing her training to insure her success!

Now that your "Master Folder" is open, create YOUR first "Project Folder"

You now have another "New Folder".
Rename it "project_YourNewThoughtCenter"
Remember to use YOUR domain name in the place of "YourNewThoughtCenter"
This will hold all the files related to this particular web project,
including the website folder for each respective project.
Now that you have created your first Project Folder,
double click on it to open it.

As you can see above, you will soon have have at least five folders inside your project folder.
Your title bar should reveal that you are inside your "project" folder.
Begin creating your five folders for this project, mirroring the folders created above,
but using your center name in place of "yourCenter" and using "my" instead of "your".

1. Your website folder which will begin with an _ (underscore)
   --The underscore keeps it floating at the top of your project folder.
   --later on, when you are using Macromedia Dreamweaver you will go to the top of the program.
   click on "Site" and from the drop down menu select "Manage Sites"
   You will then click on "New" and select "Site"
   You will then click on the "Advanced" tab in the upper left hand corner of the "Site Definitiion" window.
   You will once again notice that the name of the window is in the title bar.
   the Local Info Category will be preselected for you in the left column.
   You will enter the name of your website in the "site name" field,
   then click on the little folder to the right of the Local Root Folder address field,
   then you will go to your project folder,
   inside it, you will find your website folder (_yourCenter website),
   double click on your website folder (it will actually have the name you gave it!)
   so that you see "_yourCenter website" (with your custom name) displayed in your title bar
   then click select to select it, this will return you to the "Site Definition" window.
   --after you have selected this folder as your "Local Root Folder"
   Choose the "Remote Info" category and enter the hosting information
   given to you by your mentor minister.
2. An "unedited_Research" folder to hold raw information you have collected
   --You will need to rewrite your notes, if you have copied information from other sources.
   Otherwise you could run into copyright problems.
3. An "unprocessed_Pix" folder for copies of your unprocessed photos
   --Unprocessed or "raw" pictures must be processed before being placed on the web.
   Otherwise they will be too large and too heavy which will slow down your webpages
   and thus cause people to leave your web for other faster webs.
4. A "streams" folder to hold your mp3 podcasts and other media as well as pages
   --This is for your New Thought Streams account
   --Every New Thought Center is given a New Thought Streams account to help promote your center
   You can upload as many New Thought MP3 podcasts as you wish, as well as pdf files and more.
5. A "forms" folder to hold your forms pages for your New Thought Forms account.
   --Every New Thought Center is given a New Thought Forms account to enable your center
   to have regular forms or secure forms to enable easier processing of class registration and more.

As mentioned above, folder number 3 is your "unprocessed_Pix" folder.
Raw photos should be formatted for the web
prior to being placed into the "images" folder in the website folder.
If we put raw (unprocessed) photos into the website folder (_mynewthoughtcenter),
this creates loads of problems including making your web run slowly.
You will be using Macromedia Fireworks to process your images.
Remember to use your domain name in the place of "yourCenter_Website"

When we set up your FTP or File Transfer Program to your website, you will be select the
_yourCenter_Website. This keeps your unprocessed files from accidently being uploaded to your website.

As you develop your website, you will understand why
it is important to use this clear and simple method of organizing your files.

This simple and effective way of organizing your website will keep you from losing important documents.
Your source material will be outside of the website folder and available for you to return to should you need to make changes to the rendered/exported files which you will be using in your web.

This is especially important concering working image files with layers.
For instance, Adobe Photoshop ".psd" files have layers which we may wish to edit at a later point.
Because of these layers .psd files are thus much larger than the exported or rendered jpg or gif files which you will use in your website.
Likewise, Fireworks ".png" files can also contain layers and are normally much larger than the exported or rendered jpg or gif files.

Other large files which need to be held outside of the website folder include .fla files which are rendered into .swf files. These files are typically ten times larger than the vector .swf files.