This website is not an affiliate of The Way International Inc.
Any opinions expressed here are those of their authors only but will
generally agree with the policies and teachings of The Way International.
Website Membership
Welcome to our family tables. Some sections require login to enter. Registration to the website is a forum registration. If you would like to participate in this website, you must click on the "Member Signup" link on the front page or at the end of this page. Fill out the profile to set up your screen name and password Registration is not automatic, you will get an email when your account is active.
Family Tables MyPages - The Believers Social Network
Friend Finder - Overview
Friend Finder is a community of followers of The Way Intenational. It functions to allow followers to locate one another nationally and internationally by location, interests, social status and by ministry classes and programs. One can quickly find other believers similar in experiences and interests to yourself. Each member has a "personal page" that includes a map showing their personal friends, a brief biographical outline, a page for links to other places on the internet of interest, a chat (or blog) page, a personal Bible Study page, and a personal photo page. Of course every owner of a Friend Finder page has a setup page to customize the look and feel of his site.
Friend Finder - Security
Providing this access is not done without security in mind. The Internet is just the same as the rest of the world with its good people and bad. However, on the Internet, one seldom see who is doing what, only the results of their actions. Friend Finder was designed after a secure access system was invented. The new version of familytables.net now tracks every visitor and determinds who can access what information. The level of security and access is beyond most websites. While many use encripted technologies, there is still a trail in the form of files left both on the user's machine and the server that clever hackers can use to get into private areas after the authorized user leaves. Many of such security holes have been accounted for and a system installed to prevent access to all but only persons authorized. This goes beyond just username and password. The details of how it is done will remain a company secret.
Login is required to see the view the member's pages. Without logging into the site, you will see the only the main map and cannot follow the map links to personal pages. Once logged in, the links will work as well as a search function to locate friends and followers.
Friend Finder - Feature Descriptions
The feature set of the Friend Finder system was taken from observing other social networking software and reviewing many available sotware packages. Obviously, nothing that the world offers is fully suitable for the household of the followers of The Way International. Therefor, a custom solution was considered. In January of 2006 the work was started to produce a custom application for the household of The Way.
1. The first feature was a locator map. This idea had been in the works since the site came on-line in Feburary of 2004. At that time the goal seemed unreachable. In 2005 Google released to the public the ability to place a Google map on websites. Then in the Spring of 2006 Google released version two of their map software with a host of improvements. This is the version used in the Friend Finder. Version two of the Google maps allows for custom icons for map pointers and other custom behaviors. We have implimented only a few of the custom features available. We expect to upgrade the map features in the future. We have also implimented version two maps on every member's personal page.
2. The second feature needed was a way that followers could identify on another by their classes and programs. Colored torch icons were made. This image was selected to represent "Light Bearers" of the Word of God. The map shows at a glance where the light of God's Word is shining across the country and the world. The icons are displayed on the front page map, in the headers of members personal page pages. Member's personal page headers will display under the front page map after successful login.
3. A third feature that was considered was a quick way to see not only where believers were located on the map but an avatar to represent them. There are eight avatars available in addition to using a photo of yourself. The avatars include both male and female as well as couples and group avatars so a whole family or even a whole fellowship could take a site and represent themselves as a group.
4. A fouth feature is a unique Bible Study program. It is custom made by the same programer who wrote the security system and the MyPages application. Access to this custom Bible Search engine is included in every member's personal page.
5. A fifth feature is a friends page. This page is similar to the myspace.com friends page but when a friend is added to a MyPages friends page, a Light Bearer torch is added to the personal page owners personal friends map. This idea is available on the frappr.com website too. This feature is expected to become common in the near future.
6. A sixth feature is a photo page. The Friend Finder photo page is similar to the Gallery albums. The Friend Finder photo page is limited in the number of photos it will display unlike the Gallery albums which are not limited.
7. A seventh feature is message board. It can operate in two modes. The site owner can decide to operate it as a blog where only he/she can make entries. It can also operate as a public blog or message board where any other member can make entries. Also, it can send an email of new posts to the site owner thus freeing one of constantly monitoring their personal page.
8. An eight feature is the links page. Here a site-owner can list links to other places on the internet of interest to him/her. This would include places like their myspace site, their xanga.com site, their favorite Bible study site, their favorite music site, their photobucket.com site and so on.
9. The ninth feature is a marquee. Every personal page has one built-in to use. There are many options availble to change its appearance and behavior.
10. The tenth feature is the site owner's setup page. This page allow personal page owners to customize the behavior and the look and feel of their Friend Finder page. There are over 200 built-in backgrounds available and charts for the 216 web-safe colors and the 114 color names known to browsers. It has tutorials and hints to customize your site. A Friend Finder page owner can control over 70 features to setup a page that is uniquely his own.
11. The last feature is a help section that includes instructions for every option in the setup page to explain what is available, what to do with it and how to make it happen for you.
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