I stumbled upon this great ministry site called churchrelevance.com it’s a side dedicated to “Interesting ideas, concepts, and cultures in pursuit of more effective ministry.” It’s the site of Kent Shaffer. He shares his thoughts on a wide array of topics.
Take a look at the site and see what articles pertain to you.
View Churchrelevance.com
In my attempts to develop my own skills as a web designer I set out to find some new books. I came across a book called “Content Strategy for the Web” by: Kristina Halvorson. Kristina begins the book by addressing the value of content itself and the importance of having a solid content strategy for each site.
QUOTE:
“Most web project schedules postpone content development until the eleventh hour. As a result, content quality is often seriously compromised. When we practice content strategy, we ensure that our web content is treated as valuable business asset not an afterthought.”
We all probably can relate to that quote in some form or another. I feel that I understand the importance of web content, but it often have little to no strategy for handling it. Kristina presents some great strategies for preparing and handling your content.
If I can practice 5% of whats in here I would be able to improve how I handle content with my clients. I recommend you read this book no matter where your role is in relation to the content for your Church or Ministry. It can only help. And if you’re part of a team that’s responsible for launching a site or maintaining an existing one, you definitely can’t afford to minimize the importance of content or be unprepared for how to handle it.
I recommend you check it out. So here are some accompanying links & quotes:
The Site - www.contentstrategy.com
Twitter - Kristina Halvorson
Amazon - Content Strategy for the Web
QUOTE:
“By prioritizing useful and relevant over ‘wouldn’t it be cool’ and ‘just in case,’ you will magically dismiss at least half of your web content projects.”
QUOTE:
“To close the gap, we need to introduce a new layer of ‘design,’ which considers how content – defined and driven messages, business objectives and user foals – will receive the attention it deserves, at the right time in the project process.”
QUOTE:
“The more places you deliver content, and the more people you have involved with the creation and delivery of that content, the more important it is to have a cohesive content strategy in place to ensure consistency across channels.”
The other day I got a change to get my hands on Apple’s new iPad. As a designer my first thought was “oh no how are my sites going to look on the iPad!?!?!?”.
Prior to my trip to the Apple store I began my investigation into how the iPad was going to preview the web. It’s important to know how the web world is shifting, changing and moving. New technology can drastically effect the web, as we’ve experienced with the iPhone and other mobile devices. The iPad is the next game changing device… or is it?
I first looked into the screen resolution which I discovered was going to be 1024 x 768. A lot of people seemed to have issues with this screen size saying things like “it’s an archaic format” and “this will be terrible for watching movies with its outdated proppotions.” however even though this aspect ratio is retro in it’s design it did seem to be good news for the web community. It’s been a long standing standard not to exceed the 1024 users width with the content of your sites. Even though this group of users have been shrinking world wide they did make up enough of a user base to still maintain the tradition.
This being said the screen ratio would prove to be a valued element in the iPad’s design and an asset to standards compliant designers. A screen like this would only rejuvenate this standard for website dimensions.
Good news….
But now onto a bitter note for many web developers, Flash. Flash is an Adobe designed tool for creating web sites with more dynamic and animated designs. This program allows for sites to be much more well… Flashy. (Pun intended please) It appeared, like it’s predecessors the iPhone and iPod Touch, that it would not support flash in it’s Safari browser.
However, I’m not terribly upset about this. Yes even though flash is unique in many ways it doesn’t really seem to make for the most consistent web experience. It allows for crazy navigations and dynamic game experiences but the majority of websites out there don’t need flash. Flash isn’t friendly to computers who don’t have flash player on their computer. JavaScript on the other hand has a lot of the animation power that flash does but if properly coded still allows the site to function. Flash is also very unfriendly to he visually impaired.
I know it can be a hard thing to get rid of but the web will be fine without it.
When I walked in and held my site in my hands as i browsed the web I was very impressed with how Safari handled my sites. A combination of following web standards, using JavaScript and paying attention to the demographic looking at my site it all worked out.
The iPad does an amazing job at adapting the site in landscape or portrait mode. Safari had excellent speed and handled rendering websites like it was a breeze.
My overall review of the iPad – Amazingly simple and elegant. Browsing the web feels incredibly natural. I heart the iPad.
So I stumbled upon Aaron Klein’s twitter post about Clover Sites. It’s a really nice web solution for smaller and medium churches or ministries. Some of the key features they have to offer are an easy to us Content Management System (CMS), Great Support, Calendars, Media Player, Excellent and Relevant Designs plus it’s affordable. I’m really interested in hearing more about who these guys are and what kind of support they offer.
They mention in one of their videos that three of the most important aspects of what they offer are, “Absolutely Beautiful, Completely Intuitive, Made Affordable” The site cost $1000 setup and $20 a month for hosting and support.
So Why Clover?
So Why Not Clover?
Well the why not depends on who you are as a church or organization. If your a dynamic ministry that has a few people dedicated to keeping your site up to date on social networking evolutions or constantly changing your site in very specific ways Clover may be limited to the specific customizations a technologically advanced church may be looking for.
However, For a smaller church that is really looking for a fantastic church website that just about anyone in the church can update and manage then Clover is a brilliant idea. They can really help provide your ministry with a site that looks incredible and helps give your ministry the legitimate edge that you know it deserves. It’s so important to have not only a great looking site but one that functions the way your users need it to.
If this sounds like a solution that may fit your church or ministry check them out at www.cloversites.com
For more on why it’s so important to have a great website check out our “The Web: The New Front Door To The Church” article.
This is a fantastic site with tons of amazing articles for web designers and developers. They frequently write about Wordpress. They also provide tutorials and how to(s). This is one of the blogs that I read on a daily basis to keep me informed and knowledgeable on the web.
Site URL: www.smashingmagazine.com