volunteer web person

[kimorr]

Hi,
I'm updating and keeping fresh content on our church website. We podcast and also post text sermons as well. We are considering a redesign once we finish with our mission and value discernment process. Im a computer geek, but still learning lots about HTML, Dreamweaver, etc. Fortunately our webdesigner is around to help. I welcome with trepidation your comments on our site.
Kimberly Orr
www.firsttrinitydc.org (http://www.firsttrinitydc.org)

[David Gillaspey]

Hi Kimberly,

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for joining.

I'll mention a few things about your website, and I'm sure others will, too.

For a thorough review, which is my habit but which you may or may not be seeking, I do have a few conditions mentioned here (http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/forums/showthread.php?t=665).

But for "free":

* The type in the menu under the banner is too small. The letters are filling in with black, making the words hard to read.

* It's rare that churches, such as yours, include directions for those who take mass transit. Good for you.

[generalhavok]

Hi, Kimberly!

There's a general principle that bears repeating here: if you want to know what makes a great website, you should look at a lot of them to see what others are doing.

That's part of what David does...and where his expertise comes from. He knows web design principles, and is well-acquainted with thousands of church websites. That gives him the information he needs to make quality decisions about the sites he might make.

I'm a full-time designer, and I don't trust my own judgment. I look at literally hundreds of websites each month with an eye toward improving my own designs, processes, and principles. I'd recommend that you do the same, on a scale that fits your own involvement.

Here's an example of how that might affect your design: if you look at most of the better website designs (church sites or otherwise) you won't find very many scrolling marquees. You've implemented one on your site, which begs the question: is that a great idea, or a poor one, or neither? I'd suggest that looking at 100 high-quality websites will give you the answer. Very few would include that element as you have.

Please don't take this as criticism, because it's really not. It's one example of how being involved in forums like this one, discussion groups, and self-education on web design will help you go from amateur to amazing in a relatively short time. I don't think you should fashion yourself after others, but it's really important to learn sound principles from industry leaders.

Have a great day!

[Faithhb_lutheran]

Kimberley,

The marquee is distracting in my opinion, and the side columns being close but different colors and different sizes makes the site look unbalanced to me, that is of course just my observations. You should definitely follow David's link and get your site submitted for a full review.

[David Gillaspey]

Thanks, Tony and Kyle, for your kind comments. :)

Kimberly,

The scrolling marquee across the top (under the banner) would have been on my list of things to mention in a full review. Tony and Kyle have beaten me to it, however.

Horizontallly scrolling marquees are an outdated technique. Vertically scrolling text, however, is still somewhat acceptable. I think the reason for that is that the credits at the end of movies roll vertically.

But any scrolling text — horizontal or vertical — should be avoided.

I hadn't even noticed the subtle difference between the colors on the left and right columns, but Kyle is correct in pointing that out. You'll want to use the same color for both sides. (The current difference in color is probably unintentional, I realize.) Use the lighter color; the black type is not very readable against the dark green of the lefthand column.

[JackWolfgang]

* It's rare that churches, such as yours, include directions for those who take mass transit. Good for you.

That is a good idea.

Google Labs is offering transit planning information for a limited number of cities based on their Google Maps product. Your city might be included:

http://www.google.com/transit

[Faithhb_lutheran]

That's a cool little tool

[kimorr]

Thanks for the input! I'm going to forward it on to our web designer - I can't really take credit for the work, I just update. Once we get some of the kinks worked out I'll submit it for a full review. Originally the marquee was used for announcements then I started putting the bulletin announcement link on the homepage because people never read the scroller. I think it could easily be retired.