IT for Church Communications: Web Site Design MSCM 8630 IT for Church Management Dr. Wagner October...
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Transcript of IT for Church Communications: Web Site Design MSCM 8630 IT for Church Management Dr. Wagner October...
IT for Church IT for Church Communications: Web Communications: Web Site DesignSite Design
MSCM 8630 IT for Church Management
Dr. WagnerOctober 30, 2008
This week in class…This week in class…Two on-line sessions this week
◦Thursday night 7:30 p.m. ET◦Tuesday morning 9:30-10:30 ET (office
hour)Continue reading
◦Go over articles from CC magazine◦Chapter 5 of the Welch book for next
weekDiscuss web design technology
◦ Look at web sites and critique◦ Fourth assignment posted shortly (personal
web page)◦ Choose a web design tool
Begin learning with books, Element K, etc.
Some comments about your Some comments about your proposals…proposals…
Lots of web sites and databases
Spend time up front to plan design
Interview stakeholders◦ Test out designs
View it as prototype
Create summary document of project
How about some more How about some more database queries (true geeky database queries (true geeky fun)?fun)?
Northwind databaseSingle, multi-table queriesOther operatorsBasing a report on a queryData maintenance operators
◦ Delete, update, append (caution here!!)
Article: 25 Church Website Article: 25 Church Website Design TipsDesign Tips
1. Don’t use splash or intro screen- Except when there are multiple sites behind it
2. Don’t use all Flash sites- don’t use small text and don’t force users to
scroll down too much
3. Allow visitors to turn off Flash animations4. Don’t use frames5. Don’t use buttons in menus – use text
links6. Don’t use tiled backgrounds
Article: 25 Church Website Article: 25 Church Website Design Tips (2)Design Tips (2)
7. Don’t use gifs, counters, or rainbow colors
- Keep credit line subdued
8. Don’t use denominational logo in banner- Should have a church logo
9. Don’t put photo of church on home page- Photos of people show community more
10.Don’t advertise on your home page- Focus main page on new people
11. Add a “what to expect” page to website
Article: 25 Church Website Article: 25 Church Website Design Tips (3)Design Tips (3)
12. Include essential info on home page
- Make it easy to find. Segment by gender?
13. Add scripture to home page14.Include key email addresses and form
for inquiries- Disguise email addresses to avoid spambots
15.Make website more than just an online brochure
16. Avoid drop-down and slide-out menus
Article: 25 Church Website Article: 25 Church Website Design Tips (4)Design Tips (4)17. Don’t confuse visitors with
interior navigation links18. Use easy to understand labels19. Underline links in text20. Illustrate ministries with photos21. Include captions on photos22. Don’t call audio downloads
“podcasts”23.Don’t use audio/music backgrounds24.Include time zone info for live broadcasts25.Make site disabled friendly
From 100 Best Parishes…Picked 3 sites to look at randomly
◦St. Bridget of Richmond VA http://saintbridgetchurch.org/
◦St. Mary of Helena, MT http://stmaryhelena.com/
◦St. Timothy of Blain, MN http://www.churchofsttimothy.com/
◦Mountain Lake Church of Cumming, GA http://www.mountainlakechurch.com
(cited in article)
What does Welch say?Religious Web Resources
◦Vatican www.vatican.va◦U.S. Bishop’s Conference
www.usccb.org◦Catholic News Service
www.catholicnews.com◦Paulist www.bustedhalo.com◦The Taize community www.taize.fr◦Irish Jesuits www.sacredspace.ie◦Wing Clips www.wingclips.com◦GodTube www.godtube.com
Important Secular SitesFlickr www.flickr.com site for
downloading picturesWikipedia www.wikipedia.orgYouTube www.youtube.comDel.icio.us social bookmarkingiTunes www.apple.com/itunes for
audio or video podcasts
Basics of Web Page DesignBuilding a content-only Web page
is easyEveryone is doing it for a variety
of reasons◦Family Web site◦Evening sports league team◦School classes (by me)
Basics of Web Page DesignA word of caution when building
a personal Web siteDon’t include too much personal
informationDon’t include (as a general rule)
◦Your address◦Your phone number◦Your unique IDs
HYPERTEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE (HTML) HTML – the language you use to
create a Web siteHTML allows you to
◦Specify the content◦Specify the formatting for content
HYPERTEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE (HTML) To create a Web site, you must
create an HTML documentHTML document – file that
contains your Web site content and the HTML formatting instructions
Web page is a view of an HTML document from within a Web browser
Creating an HTML DocumentUse any text editorFor example, in Notepad:
◦Click on Start◦Point at All Programs◦Point at Accessories◦Click on Notepad
Create HTML document and save with htm or html extension
HTML Document SectionsHTML tag – specifies the
formatting and presentation of information in a Web site
Structure tags – HTML tags that set up the necessary sections
Two major sections in an HTML document◦Head section◦Body section
HTML Document Sections
Body section
Structure tags
HTML TagsUsually are <tagname> and </tagname>
Entire HTML document<html><head></head><body></body></html>
HTML Document
Resulting Web Page
Image
Lists
Let’s try our own page…A number of web design tools out
there◦MS FrontPage 2003 (via Citrix?)
Basic web design tool
◦Dreamweaver Most popular professional tool Lots of Element K support
◦MS Expression Web New, well-rated package 90 day download available No Element K support
Assignment for next weekAssignment for next weekWork on the Web design tutorials
on Element K (if necessary)Read up on Web search engines
◦ 2 articles sent shortly◦ Welch chapter 5
Start work on personal web page◦ Assignment 4 to be posted shortly
Questions?Questions?