David Gillaspey
Mon., Mar. 9, 2009, 8:46 pm
http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/images/churches_forum/WA_overlake_cc.jpg (http://www.occ.org)
My comments:
This is an all Flash website.
You can't tell from the screenshot, but the site is set against a subtle radial gradient pattern in the background. This is probably only possible with an all Flash site, unless you use a very large jpeg image for the background.
As you can see, the navigation is arrayed across the bottom of the site, which is an unusual place for the navigation bar. There's a purpose for this. When you click on the links in the navigation bar, then a dropdown menu in the form of a column of links appears below the top-level link that you clicked, in the gray background area below the site proper. (The type is white, so it is easily visible.)
It's unfortunate, however, that you have to actually click a link in the navigation bar to see its associated dropdown menu. It seems to me that it would have been better — less work — for the user if the submenus appeared upon mousing over a link in the navigation bar.
I tested this site at 800 X 600 resolution. At this resolution, you can't even see the navigation bar at the bottom of the site. You may respond, well, not many people still use 800 x 600 resolution monitors anymore. I would agree.
But then I tested the site at 1024 x 768 resolution. At this resolution, you can see the navigation bar but the dropdown menus are cut off by the bottom of the monitor. That's not so good.
It requires a minimum 1152 x 870 resolution to see the site and the dropdown menus in their entirety. If the navigation bar had been positioned at the top of the site, then the entire site, including, of course, dropdown menus, would be viewable on an 800 x 600 resolution monitor.
What do you think about the position of the navigation bar vs. the required resolution noted above — was the tradeoff acceptable?
Website © Overlake Christian Church
Reply to this post to add your comments, and/or rate this home page design.
Click the Search the Directory (http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org) link under the banner to search the database version of the International Directory of Church Website Design. The database contains many more example screenshots than currently are posted in this area of the forum.
My comments:
This is an all Flash website.
You can't tell from the screenshot, but the site is set against a subtle radial gradient pattern in the background. This is probably only possible with an all Flash site, unless you use a very large jpeg image for the background.
As you can see, the navigation is arrayed across the bottom of the site, which is an unusual place for the navigation bar. There's a purpose for this. When you click on the links in the navigation bar, then a dropdown menu in the form of a column of links appears below the top-level link that you clicked, in the gray background area below the site proper. (The type is white, so it is easily visible.)
It's unfortunate, however, that you have to actually click a link in the navigation bar to see its associated dropdown menu. It seems to me that it would have been better — less work — for the user if the submenus appeared upon mousing over a link in the navigation bar.
I tested this site at 800 X 600 resolution. At this resolution, you can't even see the navigation bar at the bottom of the site. You may respond, well, not many people still use 800 x 600 resolution monitors anymore. I would agree.
But then I tested the site at 1024 x 768 resolution. At this resolution, you can see the navigation bar but the dropdown menus are cut off by the bottom of the monitor. That's not so good.
It requires a minimum 1152 x 870 resolution to see the site and the dropdown menus in their entirety. If the navigation bar had been positioned at the top of the site, then the entire site, including, of course, dropdown menus, would be viewable on an 800 x 600 resolution monitor.
What do you think about the position of the navigation bar vs. the required resolution noted above — was the tradeoff acceptable?
Website © Overlake Christian Church
Reply to this post to add your comments, and/or rate this home page design.
Click the Search the Directory (http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org) link under the banner to search the database version of the International Directory of Church Website Design. The database contains many more example screenshots than currently are posted in this area of the forum.