Church Website - BBC

One comment:

Lose the dated and overused Microsoft Frontpage template.

 

I know you're asking about the design and layout, but content is just as important.....and when I clicked on "About My Father's Business" and started reading, only a few paragraphs into the message I see your Pastor refer to the NIV as the "Nutty Idiots Version". I guess that kind of ruined it for me.

Even though the King James is my favorite translation, and normally the only one I use, I can't help but see a new Christian who only has an NIV Bible read this and feel a little upset that someone is calling them a Nutty Idiot.

I would get rid of junk like that before I worried about the design. Just my opinion.

 

I'm a firm believer that sticking with design consistency, even under the worst conditions of design (like FrontPage templates), can still produce a very clean and professional looking site.

Navigation, titles, and background consistency seem to be all taken care of by FrontPage, but in the body of pages, I see several fonts, colors, and styles implimented. It's best to set a standard: Use one font, one color, one size, one style for each type of content, and apply that standard to all pages.

Your "About Us" page is very nicely formatted. Each article of belief is outlined consistently and looks very clean. "Home" for example, on the other hand, has various sections using different styles of font, size, etc...

For those building sites, there are 10 commandments of professional web design:

1) Thou shall not use frames
2) Thou shall not use scrolling marquees
3) Thou shall be consistent
4) Thou shall not use horribly contrasting background and font colors
5) Thou shall not use animated gifs
6) Thou shall not use a visible visitor counter
7) Thou shall not publicly favor a browser or resolution
8) Thou shall not make never-ending scrolling pages
9) Thou shall be clear on what you are presenting with each page on your site
10) Thou shall not play background midis

I think I broke all 10 of these when I first started making sites .

 

Adobe Dreamweaver (but it is not cheap)

Free alternatives:
NVU (free download) http://www.nvu.com/
KompoZer (free, unofficial update to NVU) http://www.kompozer.net/
1st Page 2000 (free download) http://www.evrsoft.com/1stpage2.shtml

 

1st Page is really good, as it has 5 levels of interface from beginner to expert. It also has goodies like scripts included. You should set it for beginner and grow from there.

 

Good deal. My company has our access tied down tight also. Let me know if you have questions, Don't know if I have answers, but we'll see!

 

Bro. Williams,

Have you ever looked at something like www.CityMax.com? Sure, it kind of limits you in some areas, but they make it really easy to build a pretty good looking site.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I downloaded NVU and I really like it. It is much easier to use then the HTML WYSIWYG editor I was using. Since downloading it last night I have revamped my site, and of course I used Kubel's 10 commandments.


Bill

 

Dude, the blatant advertising is getting tiresome.

 

Dude, I was just trying to help the guy. I moved my website to CityMax, and I like it. End of story.

I don't know how you consider my recommendation "advertising" any more than you would consider any of the other advice in this thread "advertising" for any of the other Website-building software.

Do you think I'm getting some sort of compensation for recommending Citymax? If so, you're wrong, Dude.

I provided the link for his convenience. It takes you to the same place as if you typed in www.CityMax.com in your browser, not to some sort of special site where I earn a commission or something.

Sorry you thought I was advertising something. I was just trying to be helpful. Dude.

 

Hi Bill!

Glad you like NVU. I like it a lot too. It is easy to use, produces nice results, and best of all, the price is right. :thumbs:

 

Not quite true (dude). You started an entire thread for the CityMax website not too long ago. Coupled with this interjection, and I'm glad you enjoy your move, but you're sounding like an advertisement.

My apologies for offending you. Just calling it how I see it, and we all know message boards don't show facial expressions, tones of voice, etc.

-----

And my apologies for somewhat hijacking this thread. Bro Williams, your site looks good. I echo the person who thought you should change your background; but the layout's clean, and easy to follow.

 

Not quite true. I started a thread to discuss Church and ministry websites, to see what had worked for others, and to possibly learn some things.

Honestly didn't mean to.

Thank you for the apology. And I, too, apologize to Bro Williams for getting this discussion off topic.