LDS Media Talk

The Church’s new Web site about the Savior Jesus Christ has been recognized at Best Web Gallery, which is an inspirational gallery site that features quality Web sites (Quality Design = Visual + Technical + Creativity).

If you would like to link to the Church’s new Web site from your blog or Web site, there are some attractive images (and code) you can use at lds.net. Two examples are below. This is a great way to share teachings of the Savior with your readers and visitors.

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The memoriam for President Gordon B. Hinckley is now available online in text and PDF. (To see the PDF, just click View on the Table of Contents page.)

You can access it in two ways:

1. There is a link to it from the Ensign home page. From the LDS.org home page, click Gospel Library > Magazines > Ensign, then see the feature in the center of the page.
2. There is also a link to the PDF on the broadcast page for the funeral services.

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See the new Web site about the Lord Jesus Christ and His essential role in our lives. JesusChrist.lds.org is the newest Web site sponsored by the Church.

Using the words of latter-day prophets and apostles as its foundation, the site focuses solely on the life, teachings, and mission of the Savior and how we can come unto Him and invite others to do the same. In addition to the teachings of Church leaders, the site provides links to the scriptures, additional articles, and multimedia presentations.

We invite you to share this information with your friends and to link to the site from your personal blogs and Web sites.

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Funeral services for President Gordon B. Hinckley were held Saturday, February 2. Audio and video files are now available online.

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On Saturday, February 9, a worldwide leadership training meeting was broadcast over the Church satellite system. Online archives are now available in text, audio, and video formats.

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A special 32-page memoriam has been produced to commemorate the life of President Gordon B. Hinckley. This booklet includes include a biography of President Hinckley’s life and the talks from his funeral on February 2, 2008. It will be produced in English for the Ensign and many other languages for the Liahona.

This booklet will be sent to Ensign subscribers with their March magazine and to Liahona subscribers at a later date.

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The March 2008 issue of the Liahona and Ensign is focused entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ. In this issue, General Authorities teach vital doctrines about the Savior, and members from around the world share testimonies of the power of the Atonement in their lives.

This issue was created specifically to help readers better understand Jesus Christ, receive a witness of His divinity, and feel a desire to follow Him. It will also give members an opportunity to share with others restored truths about the Savior.

Until June 30, 2008, special pricing is available within the United States and Canada for those who want to purchase extra magazines to share. The price is U.S. $33 for a box of 30 magazines. (At this bulk rate, magazines may be ordered only in boxes of 30.) Smaller quantities and copies ordered after June 30, 2008, will cost $1.50 per copy, shipping included.

Please share copies of this magazine with less-active members and those not of our faith. You can order copies online.

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Today is LDS.org’s 12th birthday!

On February 14, 1996, the domain www.lds.org was activated with an “under construction” page.

Below are a few screen shots of the early site, which for the first four years was a static site. The first piece of major content was the Global Media Guide, published by Public Affairs. Soon, General Conference transcripts were added and other resources started to appear.

In 1999, LDS.org was redesigned to add a new level of warmth.

On June 30, 2000, LDS.org became a dynamic site, redesigned to accommodate an increasing amount of content.

On January 30, 2007, the Church launched the redesigned LDS.org. This included a redesigned Gospel Library with a simplified user interface and materials in many more languages. Also included was an expanded section of gospel topics to answer frequently asked questions about the Church.

LDS.org is now being translated into into nine additional languages (Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish). Future enhancements will include upgrades to the Gospel Library and the Meetinghouse Locator.

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About one million Portuguese-speaking members of the Church can now study the LDS triple combination on the Internet in their native tongue. The Portuguese version of the LDS Scriptures Internet Edition was just released.

The Portuguese version has footnotes, study helps, maps, photographs, and the ability to mark scriptures. Extensive proofreading was done to ensure the accuracy of the text. The Portuguese text version of the scriptures joins the downloadable compressed audio files that were placed online in 2007.

In an effort to help more members have access to the scriptures for personal study as well as lesson preparation, the Church has previously placed English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish versions of the triple online at scriptures.lds.org. The LDS scriptures in more than two dozen languages are currently being converted for use online.

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I previously blogged about the Worldwide Leadership Meeting of February 9th.

Below is updated information about the availability of that meeting:

The text will be published online in 77 languages on LDS.org before the end of February and as a self-contained booklet in 23 languages that will be shipped with the June 2008 Ensign and Liahona magazines.

The broadcast will also be available on DVD in 16 languages through distribution centers.

The training was broadcast around the world to all adult members of the Church ages 18 and older.The meeting focused on raising a righteous posterity. President Thomas S. Monson concluded the meeting with three guidelines for making home a haven of happiness: having “family prayer,” creating a “library of learning,” and establishing a “legacy of love” by example.

President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, reviewed “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” (Liahona, Oct. 2004, 49) and its importance.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles introduced the theme of the meeting and also participated in a roundtable discussion on raising a righteous posterity with Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president; Susan W. Tanner, Young Women general president; and Cheryl C. Lant, Primary general president.

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We are pleased to announce that the country of Latvia now has a Web site for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church now has 63 country Web sites.

In addition to the Web sites managed from Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, each country is authorized to create a country Web site under the direction of the Area Presidency. These are hosted in country and provide:

• Positive Church presence in the language of the country.
• Local history, events, and other information.
• Links to other translated materials on official Church sites.

Country sites are popular, and receive about a million page views each month.

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