I'm new to this, and not a tech!

[Kimberly G]

Hello!

We purchased a template for our church web-site from a wonderful company and my responsiblitiy is to keep this site updated. I have very little html knowledge, so my abilities are very limited at this time, but I'm a learner!

I have a program that allows me to build logos, and I am currently messing around with photoshop.

My goal for our site is for it to be easy to navigate, pleasing to the eye, and give informative information quickly. The site is www.fbcwburg.org (http://www.fbcwburg.org/)

I would love suggestions, tricks of the trade, other church sites I should look at for ideas, useful programs, etc. I'm a novice and I want to learn more and grow in this area! :rolleyes:


Thank you so much for your input.

[JackWolfgang]

Welcome, Kimberly to Great Church Websites!

[David Gillaspey]

Hi Kimberly,

Yes, welcome to the forum!

<< I would love suggestions, tricks of the trade, other church sites I should look at for ideas, useful programs, etc. I'm a novice and I want to learn more and grow in this area! >>

You'll find plenty of example church websites in the "virtual gallery" of home pages on my site (Great Church Websites, which hosts this forum). The database does have the weakness of being largely focused on design, which may or may not help you since you are working with a predesigned template. But still, there's plenty of sites in the database to inspire you.

Probably by now you already have found the Top 10 Church Website Design Tips on my site, as well as the lists of design do's and don'ts and the "Seen and Noted" page. Nevertheless, if there's anything I or other members of the forum can do to help you, ask away!

I'm particularly delighted to have someone with your perspective onboard, as one who is using a proprietary CMS (content management system). I'd love to hear more about how that works for you.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[pmburrow]

Kimberly,

I also want to welcome to the forum, it great to have you!

I visited your site. I know that you said that it was a template, but it looks good. You have to begin somewhere, and that?s quite a head start for someone who doesn?t know HTML. I think that these companies offer a great service to the Christian community. So many churches hurt themselves by having poor web sites that could otherwise benefit by using a template such as yours.

If you have the desire to learn programming, the people here can point you in the right direction. There are options available that don?t require you to know everything at first, this allow you to learn as you go.

If you just want to get inspirations for your site, then you absolutely came to the right place. That?s exactly why I kelp coming back, and I image it is the reason for most. I wanted to see what other designers were doing. Studying others is the way that I grow myself.

I look forward to hearing your ideas.

Phillip

www.discoveryumc.org (http://www.discoveryumc.org/)