The Beauty of Simplicity
We all go through periods of life where we lose our focus on God, and we let other things creep ahead of Him on our priority lists. It's one of those things that happens among the highs and lows of our walks with Christ. Usually, it happens when we focus on something we want instead of following what God wants for us.
Similarly, we can do the same thing with our websites. We want to add in the latest offerings from a hot API, or we want to put together a flashy look, or add the latest multimedia offerings to our site. We want to keep up with the ever-changing technologies so that our sites don't fall behind the curve.
However, sometimes when we try to take on these projects, sometimes we lose track of what is supposed to be our focus. Using Flash-based menus can leave a site difficult to navigate through for those either without Flash enabled and those using text-based browsers (like the blind). A new design may push important information to counter-intuitive locations if not planned out properly. We may get so excited about a new feature we've added that we don't notice that it's broken something else.
While I'm not trying to put down the use of new features and technologies, I do want to encourage you to examine the benefits of simple design and implementations. Your website doesn't have to be the next Digg or del.icio.us, but it should be an easy-to-navigate presentation of your church, group or yourself. The vast majority of people will appreciate a well thought-out design plan over flashy features.
So, next time you go to add a cool new feature to your website, take a minute to think about what benefit it will have to your site's visitors, and if there are other important parts of your site that may need the attention more. Make sure you keep your focus on the things that are most important. In the end, you'll find yourself with a better overall site that people enjoy using.