WIKIS: A wiki is a website that is very easily and quickly edited, using word-proccessor-like buttons that become active when you click on the "edit" button on the top of any page. (See the New Castle Presbytery wiki for an example). Provided you have been given a password by the wiki manager, after signing in you can then make changes to any page, or create new pages. You can make page edits from any computer connected to the Internet. No special software is required for your own computer. Consequently, maintaining a wiki website is inexpensive, because there is no need to purchase software licenses for each person posting.

Wikis are also secure. Every time someone makes an edit on this wiki the wiki manager gets an email showing what was added, what was deleted, and who made the changes. A running history of revisions is archived, so that if a page currently being edited gets flubbed, you can recover a previously saved copy of the page. Finally, the whole wiki website can be downloaded to an archived file and stored on your own computer. If there is a problem with the site due to a server error your whole site can be restored from the saved archived file.

WEB PAGE TEMPLATES: Many hosting companies provide, as a part of their monthly fee, web page templates. These are pre-fomatted web pages, arranged in sets that are color coordinated and style coordinated. To create a website, you use one of the templates and fill in text and graphic content of your own. When you click on the "publish" button, the changes you made to the template are saved and your web page becomes active on the Internet. Web templates are accessed via the host company's server, so no special software is needed for your own computer. You can edit your website whereever you have a broadband connection to the Internet.

FREE WEB BASED SERVICES: There are so many excellent, free services available for writing, photography, podcasting, and preparing video! For instance, Picnik.com provides a free online photo editor to help you size and dress your photos. Open Office provides a free office suite that can read and write Microsoft Office files and do much more. To learn about such resources and keep abreast of new ones being released, subcribe to the Teledavis blog, CyberKen.

FREE INSTRUCTION IN WEB PHOTOGRAPHY: Need help shooting better digital pictures for your website, or tips for how to size them and place them on your web pages? Get a free membership in Flickr, the online photographers' network, and then join Better Web Pics. Accomplished photographers from around the world will give you friendly, constructive advice to improve your photography.