No - if all you want out of the site is to find information or look at the Photo Gallery you don't need to create an account. There are some extra features which are only available to members, to take advantage of these you will need to be a registered user.

If you register for an account you can

• use the private messaging facility
• subscribe to content updates
• post in the forum
• add comments to certain types of content
• disable any of the menu items in the right hand navigation bar if you wish

Eventually it will be possible for other people to add and update content if they feel adventurous! It's really quite easy but we can give you a crash course on how it works if you want to help.

To be able to add comments or post in our forum you need to create an account.

The registration process is fairly simple, simply click the "Login" text on the top menu, and then click "Create new account".

You will then be asked to enter a username, and a valid email address. We suggest your username should be reasonably obvious to help identify you to others. But try using just your first name first though, if you're lucky it may still be available.

If you really wish to remain anonymous, you can use whatever name takes your fancy, but please make sure you remember what it is.

St John's Online will then send you a confirmation email which contains a link to a web page which will activate your account and let you enter your password.

If you have any difficulties signing up, please email jane@stjohnshillingdon.org.uk

The sign up process will send you an email so you can verify your account - this is a one off unless you need to reset your password.

You will recieve emails if you choose to subscribe for updates on new content - you get to select what content you are emailed with and if at any time you wish to cancel the "subscriptions" you will be able to do that quite easily by clicking on the "My Subscriptions" link in the left hand site navigation.

We may from time to time send you a newsletter if there is anything of note to report regarding the site.

We will not share your email address with anyone else and only the webmasters will have access to it.

In a word, No...

Unfortunately, we do not have, and will never have, access to your password. All is not lost though because it's quite easy to set a new password.

simply click the "Login" text on the top menu, and then click "Request new password". On the next screen enter either your login name or the email address you registered with. The system will then email you a "one shot" password. (check your inbox and junk folder)

You can then use this temporary password to login to St Johns Online and change your password to something more memorable.

If you are still having trouble after trying this, please email jane@stjohnshillingdon.org.uk

The IRC chat screen is a way for registered members to communicate in real time. You may have heard of something on TV about live web chats after a programme, this is very similar.

Once you click the 'Chat' link in the top menu, wait for the screen to load (takes a few seconds) and click 'Connect'.

If you wish you can change your nickname, but there is no need to. The screen then takes 30 seconds or more to connect to the chat server. When the connection is established, your name will appear in the right hand panel.

To participate in the chat session, simply click in the bottom entry panel, type your message and press enter.

Your message will be copied to the main panel and everyone who is connected to the server will be able to see it.

Have fun - Hope to see you in chat sometime soon.

We wanted to offer people the opportunity to submit a prayer without being identified personally if they wish. Of course if you want to let people know who you are then you can identfy yourself in whatever way you see fit - whatever works for you is fine!

While Blogs and Forums seem to work in similar ways - they both allow comments for instance - they are in fact completely different beasts.

A Blog is a sort of public diary - it's short for Web Log. A Blog is more of a commentary than a conversation (though comments are possible) I tend to look at Blogs as my personal news page, much the same as the front page of St John's online. 

Forums on the other hand are much more discussion focused,  - somewhere to chat with people about all sorts of things. If your intention is to start a discussion, then forums are a much better place to post. The structure of the forum is much better suited to discussion based topics.