Hi Everybody

[CUGrad02]

I've been lurking for awhile. I have found that this website has been a very beneficial resource for me in designing a website. I am definitely a rookie in the world of web design. It's been a long struggle, but I felt that a website for my church was something that was needed and took it upon myself to take on the challenge.

Please check out my church's site and please give me any helpful advice/criticism that you find necessary. I'm still working on several pages. You can e-mail me directly at kmtb29678@bellsouth.net if you would prefer to contact me privately.

www.bethelcog.net (http://www.bethelcog.net)

thanks in advance.

Michelle

[David Gillaspey]

Hi Michelle,

You're getting there! (referring to your website).

Some suggestions: Go ahead and put the full address of the church, along with phone number and email contacts (including webmaster contact [to yourself]), at the bottom of all your pages. In my opinion, there's no need to make visitors go to another page on a website to find this essential information.

You've put the service times on your home page. That's good -- a lot of church websites omit this important information from the home page, requiring instead that users go to another page. (As you can tell, I'm a big believer in not making visitors work to find the information they need.)

Looking at the source code of your home page, I see that you've been careful to add "title" and "alt" tag information. Good for you! That's important for accessibility's sake (for blind visitors).

However, on the downside, I see from the source code of your home page that the menu bar has been constructed as an image map. It seems to me that simple text links would be better: text links download faster, they can be read by the screen readers that blind people use to browse the internet, they don't require a graphics editing program to create, they can easily be updated, etc.

I looked through the source code of your home page and was unable to determine how the text in the righthand column is done. I assume, however, it's a graphic. If that's the case, I would also suggest using simple text.

On the plus side, I see from the source code of your home page that you're trying to use CSS for layout, which means you're way ahead of me. I still use old-fashion tables for Great Church Websites.

Finally, it's my overall impression that your website is focused a little too much on believers and their interests and not enough on unchurched people. I'm not, however, an expert on how to make a church website evangelistic, even though I strongly believe a church website should be evangelistic (that is, focused on the needs of unchurched people). (Great Church Websites focuses on just the narrow niche of basic church website graphic design and features.) There's some links on my site, in a popup menu at bottom left on my home page, to other websites that can really help you in this area.

Having said all that, I do want to close by saying keep up the good work!

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[CUGrad02]

Thanks David for your insight.

In regard to your statement, "However, on the downside, I see from the source code of your home page that the menu bar has been constructed as an image map. It seems to me that simple text links would be better: text links download faster, they can be read by the screen readers that blind people use to browse the internet, they don't require a graphics editing program to create, they can easily be updated, etc."

I created my menu bar in Fireworks. I have not discovered how to update changes (like to the drop downs or links) in Dreamweaver once I make the changes in FW. So what you are suggesting is getting rid of the drop downs and going with straight text links to the page and then refer them to other pages? I agree with you on the fact that I don't want people to have to hunt for the info, that's why I felt the drop downs would be the best option. But, they are definitely a big pain (or, at least I find them a big pain) to correct and update in DW.

I definitely agree that it is a struggle to find that median for the website to be beneficial to the churched and the unchurched. The only reason that this site came about was that members could have information readily available to them. I will continue to work on that.

Thanks again!

[David Gillaspey]

Hi Michelle,

<< I have not discovered how to update changes (like to the drop downs or links) in Dreamweaver once I make the changes in FW. >>

Turns out you do this by starting from within Fireworks, not Dreamweaver.

From the Dreamweaver Help file:

*************************************************
Updating Fireworks HTML placed in Dreamweaver

In Fireworks, the File > Update HTML command provides an alternative to the launch-and-edit technique for updating Fireworks files placed in Dreamweaver. With Update HTML, you can edit a source PNG image in Fireworks and then automatically update any exported HTML code and image files placed in a Dreamweaver document. This command lets you update Dreamweaver files even when Dreamweaver is not running.

To update Fireworks HTML placed in Dreamweaver:

1. In Fireworks, open the source PNG and make the desired edits to it.
2. Choose File > Save
3. In Fireworks, choose File > Update HTML.
4. Navigate to the Dreamweaver file containing the HTML you want to update, and click Open.
5. Navigate to the folder destination where you want to place the updated image files, and click Select (Windows) or Choose (Macintosh).

Fireworks updates the HTML and JavaScript code in the Dreamweaver document. Fireworks also exports updated images associated with the HTML and places the images in the specified destination folder.

If Fireworks cannot find matching HTML code to update, it gives you the option of inserting new HTML code into the Dreamweaver document. Fireworks places the JavaScript section of the new code at the beginning of the document and places the HTML table or link to the image at the end.

*************************************************

My current version of Fireworks (an older version) doesn't work in Mac OSX, so I can't confirm for you that this works.

<< So what you are suggesting is getting rid of the drop downs and going with straight text links to the page and then refer them to other pages? I agree with you on the fact that I don't want people to have to hunt for the info, that's why I felt the drop downs would be the best option. >>

No, drop downs are OK -- you can't put everything on a home page, after all! So drop downs are often necessary. I'm merely suggesting that the top level links the visitor sees be text-based, not graphical.

Though my Fireworks isn't working now, it has in the past. So I know the effort you put into your current navigation system (image map with drop down menus). So, I think a better plan for you right now is to continue to work on the site as is (that is, leave the image map as is), focusing on completing the incomplete pages I saw. Once you have the site fully working (in six months or a year), then you can sit down (with others, hopefully) and make plans for updating and improving the site. I'm sure everyone on the forum will agree with me that a website is a "work in progress."

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites