David Gillaspey
Fri., Mar. 20, 2009, 11:12 pm
http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/images/churches_forum/GA_evangel_cc.jpg (http://www.evangelcc.org)
My comments:
The design of this home page could be called big, bold, and brash. That is what makes it appealing.
Unfortunately, the layout is perhaps too big. The home page doesn't quite fit vertically on my 1600 x 1200 resolution monitor. I have to scroll down a bit just to click on the "Learn More" button at the bottom of each of the four ministry promotions arrayed along the bottom.
I tested the home page at a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. At this resolution, the home page fits horizontally, but only the top half of the vertical dimension of the layout can be seen. I think that's not good at all.
Now, it may be that the designer deliberately targeted users with large monitors, and if so, he or she mostly accomplished their goal. But it may be possible that the web designer happened to own a high resolution monitor — as most would — and did not consider what size of monitor the website would actually be viewed on by most visitors. The designer may never have taken the time to view the home page on his or her monitor with the resolution temporarily reduced for testing purposes.
I feel the entire layout could be scaled down perhaps 25% (making sure, of course, that the type size is still legible). Then it would fit in its entirety on a lower resolution monitor.
What is your opinion?
Also, the middle one-third of the layout (horizontally) "dies" a little. That is, this area is not so well designed nor aesthetically pleasing as the top and bottom panels. But I do want to mention the vertically scrolling text in the News & Events panel at middle right. I don't see this often (vertically scrolling text) on church home pages. It works well here, I think.
Having been critical above, I want to end on a positive note. The photos used in the banner and with the ministry promos along the bottom are very nicely done and are of professional quality. I think they're in fact stock photos, but they could be photos of real people in the church. That fact that I can't tell which, should be taken as a compliment to the skills of the photographer and the designer.
Website © Evangel Community 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:
The design of this home page could be called big, bold, and brash. That is what makes it appealing.
Unfortunately, the layout is perhaps too big. The home page doesn't quite fit vertically on my 1600 x 1200 resolution monitor. I have to scroll down a bit just to click on the "Learn More" button at the bottom of each of the four ministry promotions arrayed along the bottom.
I tested the home page at a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. At this resolution, the home page fits horizontally, but only the top half of the vertical dimension of the layout can be seen. I think that's not good at all.
Now, it may be that the designer deliberately targeted users with large monitors, and if so, he or she mostly accomplished their goal. But it may be possible that the web designer happened to own a high resolution monitor — as most would — and did not consider what size of monitor the website would actually be viewed on by most visitors. The designer may never have taken the time to view the home page on his or her monitor with the resolution temporarily reduced for testing purposes.
I feel the entire layout could be scaled down perhaps 25% (making sure, of course, that the type size is still legible). Then it would fit in its entirety on a lower resolution monitor.
What is your opinion?
Also, the middle one-third of the layout (horizontally) "dies" a little. That is, this area is not so well designed nor aesthetically pleasing as the top and bottom panels. But I do want to mention the vertically scrolling text in the News & Events panel at middle right. I don't see this often (vertically scrolling text) on church home pages. It works well here, I think.
Having been critical above, I want to end on a positive note. The photos used in the banner and with the ministry promos along the bottom are very nicely done and are of professional quality. I think they're in fact stock photos, but they could be photos of real people in the church. That fact that I can't tell which, should be taken as a compliment to the skills of the photographer and the designer.
Website © Evangel Community 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.