small church website

[Faithhb_lutheran]

Hello all,

I just designed a site for a small mountain community church that I am friends of the pastor. Here is the Link (http://www.oclutheran.com/sotvlc). It doesn't have any content yet, I'm waiting on that to submit it to the other review section but I though Ye design kings could rip apart my work here in the meantime. Thanks for the help.

[flutem3]

Hi, Kyle,

I just have a couple of comments, and I am not one of the whizzes. First is how did you come up with the color combination? Is it a combination which the church uses in all of its stuff.

The second is that I thought that I had read on here that we need to have our content and design around it instead of the reverse which most of the people I know have done. I don't remember all the people who had said that but several have. I know when I began, I started with pages and set out to fill them. That really is backwards. We need the content and design to fit it.
I would like that straightened out in my own head lest I mess our stuff up more. :D

Also where does "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Duis ligula lorem, consequat eget, tristique nec, auctor quis, purus. Vivamus ut sem. Fusce aliquam nunc vitae purus." come from? I see it used all over the place when the text isn't there yet. It has been a long time since I took Latin. I can figure out certain words, but I can't get the entire thing.

I like the shepherds crook. Is there a way to make it look 3-D by using color? That would look really neat, I think. I know I don't know how, but I think there is a way.

Carol

[David Gillaspey]

Also where does "Lorem ipsum ... " come from? I see it used all over the place when the text isn't there yet. Hi Carol,

You can read about it here:

http://www.lipsum.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum

[Faithhb_lutheran]

Hi carol,

The color scheme is based off of the church's business cards, newsletters and otehr material, the only color they use is the bule that makes up the cross and staff, I used a color wheel to come up with matching colors and picked one that I thought matched the personality of the church. May I ask whether or not you liked the colors?


As far as Content, when the site is a ministry I agree but this site isn't it's just a store front, the congregation is mostly older and in an area where 56k is still the norm so they aren't really technologically advanced. The pastor is hoping that me putting this up will spark the curiosity of the few young people he has and they might want to help out. If that happens we'll be doing another redesign and making the site more ministry focused. For now we just want to be there.

as for the staff, I took it straight out of there business card. When/if they decide to sink some money into the website and make it a ministry I might play around with the graphics more put for now it will have to be boring.

[flutem3]

Hi, Kyle,

Take a look at this:

http://www.wabashfirstumc.org/shephard.html

One suggestion I would make if you can do it is to make the shepherd's crook blue instead of navy. Because of its size it packs quite a wallop. To lighten it a bit would help. I used blue in the church name for the same reason. It is good to have it large, but you don't want to hit a person over the head with it. I only use Times New Roman in a title like that. Putting it in italics just makes it look a little bit "fancy" without increasing the time needed to upload and I believe even older computers can manage that so it ends up looking as you want it to look. I brought the color (sky blue) from the top down for the background for the links. Some place on the page you will need to use a contrasting color to perk it up...probably red or dark red. You would have to see which one looks better. Just some thoughts from one person.

Carol

[flutem3]

Thank you, David. I still forget to look stuff up on the computer. I wonder how long it will take me to remember that is what it is good for?

Carol

[JackWolfgang]

I prefer Carole's design to Kyle's initial design. The header on Carole's design seems smaller and less overwhelming. It also seems Carole's design has more content above the fold.

That said, I think the crook is overpowering and confusing. I would lose it.

small mountain community church

This is a case where I think a landscape picture would be wonderful. Go visit your friend, and take your camera. Shoot pictures of the valley, the mountains, and go for the church too. I know David generally recommends against using building pictures, but I could see a picture of this small church in this majestic valley (if it exists) as being a wonderful selling point, especially to people that might visit the area.

The other question is who will update this site? I would strongly recommend a CMS so you aren't stuck doing it.

[flutem3]

Hi, Jack,

There should be nothing confusing about a shepherd's crook's being used by a church named Shepherd's valley. And Kyle said that design is used on everything...in the church. However, I think the crook needs to be smaller and lighter in feel. It is too "heavy" for the top of the website. I like the ideas of pictures of valleys as well. But I was trying to work within the parameters which were mentioned. You are right. I placed the address, phone number, and office stuff above the staff. :D

In thinking about it, I think if I were to make the design, I would run the shepherd's crook up the right side of the website instead of using it horizontally. However, I don't think that Kyle has that option, do you Kyle?

Carol

[David Gillaspey]

Sorry, Carol. I agree with Jack.

A shepherd's crook has little meaning in our urbanized society. I grew up on a farm with neighbors who raised sheep. They didn't use a shepherd's crook.

The scenic photo that Jack suggested is better for three reasons:

1) It's more likely to appeal to non Christians than a mysterious symbol.

2) Use of the scenic photo is more likely to encourage people in the church to get excited about the site and volunteer to work on it.

3) Use of a scenic photo will allow a rectangular banner.

[David Gillaspey]

Hi Kyle,

My comments, in addition to the one just posted about the crook:

1) Downsize the denominational logo so it's no deeper than the two-line name of the church beside it. Denominational logos, being designed a long time ago, don't fit well with contemporary designs.

Logo and church name could then be added to a scenic photo that stretches across the whole banner.

2) Make sure there's space around text (especially left and right) in the bottom half of the page, between text and outside of box.

3) Centering a lot of text, as on the current home page, is usually to be avoided.

4) The color of link text in the navigational bar — in comparison with the background — causes the text to not be very readable. This might be especially a problem for older users.

5) Eventually, you'll want to correct the typo in the navigation bar and page title.

[flutem3]

"A shepherd's crook has little meaning in our urbanized society. I grew up on a farm with neighbors who raised sheep. They didn't use a shepherd's crook."

Hi, David

I was responding to what Kyle said. I thought he was more or less locked into the design because the church uses it on everything else. Hardly anyone uses a shepherd's crook anymore, but that doesn't mean that people don't know what it is. If they don't, I wonder where they have been. :confused: We use lots of images all the time which have little meaning in an urbanized society. We use them to teach. :) Just because Sputnik is out of date doesn't mean that people should not know about it and it's place in history...or use an image of it on an up-to-date website on man-made space satellites. It was the first.

If Kyle is not locked into that design, then I would do something else as well.

Kyle, are you locked into that design?

Carol