As a sports fan, one of the blogs I like to read is Uni Watch by Paul Lucas of ESPN.  If you're not familiar with the site, Paul describes it as "The Obsessive Study of Athletics Aesthetics".  Basically what he and a few interns do is observe and comment on sports uniforms and accessories.  These will be anything from uniform redesigns and logo changes to name misspellings and equipment malfunctions.

The reason that I like it is that it collects the details and minuteness that some people overlook, but seems to stick out like a sore thumb to me.  In fact, part of me thinks that's why I started this site.  I had seen just too many church websites where my reaction was "yes, it's a website, but this, this, this and this could be changed to make it much better".

What we can learn from many of these uniform examples are ways we can try to spot check our own church websites:

If You Make A Mistake, People Will Notice

Check all your spellings and other details.  Otherwise people my not take you seriously.

If Something's Out Of Place, It Will Distract Some People

It may not seem like much, and it may not bother you, but little things out of place will drive some people crazy.

People Will Notice If Something Is Missing

Just to be safe, I'll clarify that Miguel Tejada's normal number is 10.  If people are expecting to find something (i.e. service times), they'll notice if they can't find them easily.

If You Look Bad, People Will Let You Know

They may not say it to your face, but people will say something to someone if they find something repulsive.  Do what you can to avoid being the butt of some joke.

If Things Don't Work Right, People Will Notice (And May Complain)

Make sure your site is fully functional, since you don't want to get caught with your pants down!

Subliminally, the color scheme of your website can often leave as much of an impression on a visitor as the layout can.  A harsh or lackluster color scheme can often leave visitors wanting more, or simply being turned away.

When I went to go look for a new color scheme to use for the redesign of If Jesus Had A Website, I wanted something similar (green based), but new and refreshing.  At first, I wasn't sure where to look, but I then came across the ColourLovers site, and in particular, an article on color palettes inspired by famous artwork.

Immediately, it struck me as a great idea.  Why not use great art as an inspiration point for web design?  Even if your church already has a color scheme for it's logo or letterhead, it can be a great starting point for the color scheme of your website.

But if you're looking for somewhere to start, try browsing sites like ColourLovers and find what inspires you!

You may not have really thought about the colors of your site before, or you may have spent hours agonizing over them, trying to get them just right. Colors are very important because they evoke different emotions and messages. The combination of colors is also important because we don't want our site to be unreadable by those who are color blind. We have to be wary of these, because colors play a big part in our first impression of a site.

So how do we go about chosing good colors for our site? Here's some suggestions:

• First, pick a primary color for your site (preferably the background). If you already have a good church logo, you probably want to pick your primary color from there, if not all your colors. Even a good photo can be used as the basis of your color scheme.
  
• Second, check a color match or color scheme website to see what colors work well with those you've already chosen. These will be good colors for other backgrounds on your site, links, or a number of other things.
• Third, pick out a font color. Preferably this will be a color of high contrast to your background(s).
• Once you have your core set of colors, try to limit yourself to using only three or four of them as colors for fonts and backgrounds. Too many colors become distracting.

Of course, there are an infinate number of color combinations that could work for your site. But half the fun is experimenting to see which looks best for your church!

In today's internet, the web is becoming just as much about interacting with other people as it is for gathering information. Because of this, sites like MySpace have enjoyed massive growth. The user-created-content has become the current model for the internet, and that trend looks to continue for some time.

With that said, many internet surfers are finding less and less interest in 'static' sites, who's content changes infrequently. Combine that with the fact that most churches do not have regularly breaking major news, we find that many church websites become relatively static. Most visitors to a site like that would find it boring.

With that said, there are features you can include on your website that can help to make it a more interactive place to visit. Here are three features that are realatively easy to implement that can give your visitors the chance to interact with each other online:

1. Polls - How else can you have your voice heard with just one or two clicks? Polls are often built into many CMS packages, but can also be implemented with a variety of free tools or services. Or if you're of the "I could code that myself" persuasion like I am, then they're pretty easy to put together. I was able to put together the stuff for my poll in just one evening after work.
2. Comments - Give your visitors to comment on the latest sermon posting, podcast or any other story that you have on your site. Yes, this does allow the chance that some people may come and be argumentative on your site, but if properly moderated and managed, comments can be a great conversation starter. Try not to make visitors register to post comments because you don't want to prevent a conversation from starting (a lesson I learned the hard way). Like polls, these are often built into CMS packages, but there aren't as many other alternatives, like HaloScan, a popular one.
3. Forums - Like comments, these can be great conversation starters, but forums give visitors a chance to pose their own questions and scenarios. They can also be a great place for prayer requests and minor announcements. Because most forum setups do require one to register, they are easier to moderate and manage. Again, there are a lot of free packages and services that can help you to implement this.
   

Now that you've got the tools, next time we will talk about the challenges involved in managing user-created-content on your site. Until then, have fun playing with your new tools!

We want the focus of out church websites to be on evangelization and reaching out to people, but there are some people we want to keep out of our sites: HACKERS!

Thousands of hackers are out there. Some are professionals whose job is to discover leaks in software, and then report them to companies so that the software can be made more secure. Others hack as a hobby to both show off their talents and to make the lives of others more difficult. This second group can really cause some troubles, as they may leave your website either tainted with some kind of virus or spyware, or modify your content.

Now, I'm no security expert myself, but there are precautions we can take to discourage or minimize the effects of hackers:

1. Make Backups Of Everything - This can be as simple as storing a ZIP file with all of you files in it on a seperate computer. When you have a copy of everything, if you do get hacked then you can restore your site to where it was before getting hacked.
2. Keep All Packages Up To Date - If you are using a Content Management System or your own dynamic content setup, make sure you (or that your hosting company) keep your server up to date with the latest versions. Often, updates are made to these packages for security reasons as often as they are for new features.
3. Watch Your File Permissions - If you're using a Linux host, make sure that all your files and directories are not set to CHMOD 777. That means that anyone can edit any of your files, add files or delete existing files; and even a new hacker can get in and modify your files. With other OSs, make sure that your files are not set for public or anonymous writing.
   

So those are a few pointers to get you started. Remember, if your site gets hacked, it's not the end of the world. Learn from the experience, and you'll help keep it from happening again.

 

Yea, you just read that right. And, yes, this is a Christian site!

Over the weekend, I read a lot of blog articles that linked to a church website that prominently features scripture from Luke 4:7, where Satan is speaking to Jesus. Now, I'm going to allow that church to save face and not point them out directly, but I would like to use this as an example of what not to do. As the person in charge of content on your church website, it also becomes your responsibility to use proper biblical context.

Now, last week I posted a story about the Ten Best E-Ministy Practices, with one of them being "Do your best, then post it", saying that in today's internet, errors are ok because they can be fixed. Today, I want to emphasize that statement, but constrain it to typographical and grammatical errors. These errors occur and shouldn't impact the nature of the content you are trying to convey. However, misleading biblical reference and using scripture out of context can have a long-lasting impact. Once people see an example of biblical illiteracy, it can be really hard to live down. It takes away the authority of the local church, and reflects poorly on the church as a whole.

So, while mistakes are sure to be made, do your best to demonstrate your church as biblically literate on your website. While doing so may not lead to many noticable benefits, not doing so will lead to numerous detractions.

Last month, a group of Canadian researchers published a study where they found that most internet users judge the aesthetics of a website in a fraction of a second , which in turn influences their overall opinion of the site. From the perspective of a web developer, that is a pretty scary thing to find out. So what things can we do to help make that most of that fraction of a second? Here's three ways you can help make the most of that first impression.

1. Don't put a photo of the church on the church homepage - While it's often the easiest quality photo to obtain, it puts too much focus on the building and not enough on the people and congregation inside. The one exception may be if the building is truly unique . After all, you don't see most major businesses putting their building on their website. Try to get pictures of church activities that you can use, or if you need to you can use stock photos to fill in what you don't have. You can still have the church photo on your directions or contact information page, but just try to avoid having it front and center.
2. Make sure your site is very readable - If the text on your page is not easily readable, then visitors are less likely to stay and check out the content you have available. Spend a little time working with a color contrast engine , and come up with a combination that works best for you. Black on white always works well, but it may not grab your eye like some other color combinations.
3. Give your church site a professional appearance - If your church website looks like it was put together by someone who is just learning HTML, then it will be a negative reflection on your church. A clear, organized site with a polished appearance is more likely to draw in a visitor to find more of what your church is about.