ChurchHistory.com
Church History Inc. was an Internet startup company in close connection with the Anti-Nicene Archive. It's goal was to become the largest website of Christian antiquity in the world. This was no small project; it required compiling large amounts of information into forms that could be useful over the Internet. Many ancient Greek and Hebrew documents were scanned and placed into PDF files. We also scanned in fragments of manuscripts and images of ancient artwork. The website was broken up into ten libraries that could each have been stand-alone websites in themselves. Because of the shear magnitude of the website, it required a lot of planning on how to best organize the hierarchy of the vast archive. I developed a new hybrid of web design that was based on XML, but implemented in a way that was more efficient in an Active Server Page environment. This also included a parallel database structure that allowed for optimized searching of the web site. The web site was filled with PDF articles that could be viewed and purchased as well as galleries of ancient artwork and manuscripts. The Website also included a toolbar that was accessible from every page. The toolbar included an online glossary so the user could look up words they may not have been familiar with. There was also a pop-up bookmark window that allowed the user to store links to their favorite images, PDFs, and HTML pages. Off the main page there was also a features page that automatically updated with recent additions and interesting articles on the website. There was even a section that allowed users to download beautiful wallpaper for their desktop that also advertised the website. The website had many avenues for making money. I set up the entire e-commerce system, which included a membership system that gave full access to the website for those that paid a monthly fee. I also built a "Copy Card" system that allowed people to purchase PDF documents with credits that they purchased ahead of time using their credit card. I also designed an online class system where viewers could register for college level classes in Christian antiquity. Each class was broken up into thirty lessons that the user was able to go through at their own pace. Finally, one of the most lucrative avenues of funding for Church History was their online store which sold both books from their personal printing press as well as books form third party vendors. I set up a system that would automatically forward order information to the third party vendors allowing them to process the order efficiently. All these systems not only allowed business to be done more efficiently, but also allowed it to be done cheaply with the minimum amount of human involvement. All these systems were designed and implemented by myself giving me a wide range of experience in Web Application development. Sadly, ChurchHistory.com is currently off-line.