If Jesus Had A Website

At work today, I used the men's room and while washing my hands, I noticed that the counter that the sinks were in was collecting water. While the room still had nice aesthetics (for a corporate bathroom, at least), the engineer in me was irked. The functionality of the room was not correct, and my mind went about thinking how it should have been better designed for functionality.

Once again, I had found another example of appearances trumping function.

I know I've written about this before, but I'll keep harping on it because it's important. In order to reach out to the masses effectively, a website has to have a complimentary balance of aesthetics and functionality. If a site is too functional, it cheap, old or boring. If a site is too artistic, it can be hard to get anything useful out of it.

Shortly after I let go of my frustrations about the functionality of the men's room, I came across an article put up by Dean Peters called Too cool for Old School – Sonrise Baptist Church Newnan, GA where he was questioning some of the artistic decisions made regarding the site. While the site looks terrific, he points out a number of flaws with the design that may actually keep people from their church instead of drawing them to it.

Add that to Why Your Fancy Web Site Sucks from Church Marketing Sucks last month, and you'll see that this is a far too common problem.

The next time you look at your church site, try using Dean's piercing questions when looking at it:

1. How easy is it to add and/or modify new features?

2. Has any consideration been given to the visually impaired?

3. How much navigation needs to be explained to new users?

4. Has any consideration been given to a mobile version?

5. Has any consideration been given to an alternate path for those w/out Flash, audio speakers and/or dial-up access?

Then ask yourself, "does our site live up to what we need it to?" If not, it may be time to go back to the drawing board.

A little survey question here today:

What are your experiences with Church Management Systems (ChMS)?

Of course, there are the follow-up questions, like…

• Which ones have you used?
• How long have you used them?
• What tasks do you use them for?
• What type of church setting do you use them in?

Personally, I don't have any experience with them, but I'd like to look into them as an ongoing feature of the site in the coming months. That's why I'm asking all of you guys for a place to start. Any suggestions and experience is welcomed!

Please leave your feedback in the comments section below. And thanks for your help!

As you may have noticed from my last post, I'm on a bit of an organizational kick. Today, I'm going to talk a bit about another "trick" that I use often, and that is the To-Do list.

What's so great about the To-Do list? Well, by itself, it's nothing amazing…just a list of what you need to get done. However, proper use of a To-Do list can help you to organize and prioritize your tasks.

Some people use all kinds of applications like Ta-da List or Remember The Milk to manage their lists. Personally, I've never gotten into those applications. Instead, I use a plain pad of paper and a pen. This pad of paper sits on my desk constantly and is a reminder of the things I need or want to do. And using pen is important, because then I can't just remove things that I don't feel like doing.

Now, I don't use this list for everything. If I tried to write down everything I needed or wanted to do, I don't think I'd ever stop writing. I try to keep it to my development tasks, and then I use my wife to remind me about the other stuff. Some tasks are big, and some are small, but they pretty much all fit on a single line on my To-Do list.

Then, when I sit down to work, I can decide which is most important, or what I have time for. Heck, if it's for myself, it may be what I want to finish most or what seems most fun!

Once I complete a task, I do something very simple: I cross out the task I wrote down. This gives me a sense of completion ("yay, it's done") and allows me to keep track of what's already been done and what hasn't.

I know, nothing groundbreaking, but these little notes really help me out, and they might for you. Whether you like pen and paper, like me, or decide to use an application, it's a good way to keep yourself organized.

Forgive me if I sound like I'm stating the obvious here, but I can't stress enough the importance of planning when it comes to web design. It's one thing to be working on your own sites and projects, but whenever you're working with a group of people (other programmers, analysts, or anyone else) or for an organization, you need to have a plan put together for where you're going.

What benefits do you get from having a plan?

• Things Get Put In Writing – This way you don't have to worry about what you thought you heard, or anyone changing their minds along the way (well, they can still change them, but at least you have in writing what you agreed to previously). Everyone end up on the same page then, or at least someplace close.

• You'll Already Have The Solution, You Just Need To Do The Work – Whenever I work on a site, whether it's from scratch or modifying something existing, I always like to go through the code and write down everything that needs changing. That way, if I come across something that doesn't work as I expect ahead of time, I can alter my plan instead of going back and recoding parts I've already done.

• Impact Analysis – On a similar vein, if you put together an execution plan, you can also figure out what other areas may be impacted in advance. If you find that there are a lot of interdependencies in your code, it can also help you prioritize your work.

• Progress Report – If you're reporting to someone, especially someone who's non-technical, you can show them your plan and point out how much of it is done to demonstrate your progress. Trust me, it's a lot easier than just saying "we're still working on it".

Every day, I work with a plan on my projects. It may seem like an extra step to get done before getting to work, but more often then not it will help you keep from wasting time on ill-fated development and keep your code from getting too disorganized. It's well worth your time.