i'd be keen to here thoughts on this and also see examples. so i'll get the ball rolling...

What do you think?
i agree david.
i think that mars hill is a good church website

What are the criteria for a good church website?
-fresh content
-not 90s looking
-not made in frontpage
-rss feeds
-media section - sermons minimum
-outsider friendly
-good navigation
-no side ways scrolling
-not too much flash?
-still friendly to dial-up (cos that's what I have!)
-no clip art
-images are good (mars hill doesn't have much in that way) (american sites often have ones that are a bit too cheesy and model-posed - australian ones often have photos at the other end that are a bit daggy - a bit too much "we can tell this was taken in a school hall by someone with no idea about lighting" + ones that aren't framed well or compressed for use on web!)
-maintained by someone under40 pref a twenty-something
-consistent colour use
-font smaller rather than larger

Put any good examples in the comments...
i'll get back to you on that one dave... top

the comments are going wild here!!

c'mon... would love to hear some ideas and see some egs... top

Okay. Some thoughts on good church website design...

Do's

* Do consider who your website is for. Is it targeted at the regular members of your church, or at people who might be new to the area (as possible examples)? Write it accordingly.
* Do make your navigation simple and user-friendly. There is nothing worse than knowing something is there but not being able to find it.
* Do use a consistent 'template' so that all pages have the same feel (the homepage may be an exception to this - although personally I disagree with that).
* Do include multimedia content for users to look at (photos, sermons, videos etc). People will return to your website if they know that there will be new content.
* Do test the website in a variety of browsers.

Dont's

* Don't over-commit. If there is no-one to regularly update the site create a site that just has 'static' info (ie stuff that won't change from week to week)
* Don't use religious jargon that will scare away visitors.
* Don't use Frontpage. Ever. For any reason. Even if your life depended on it.
* Don't try to cram too much stuff onto the homepage.
* Don't be afraid of 'white-space'. Blank areas keep a page neat and tidy.
* Don't over-do Flash or other animated gimmicky things.
* Don't use a repeated background image for the background (*ahem* ccecyouth)
* Don't make the file size of each page too big (not more than 50kb is a good guide). People won't stick around if pages take ages to load.
* Don't leave out-of-date material on the website.

Okay, that's all that comes to mind off the top of my head. Some links that people might find useful:

* Church webpage design - Contains some good thoughts, but the links at the bottom are good value here.
* 75 tips for church websites - The first link from the above page. A goldmine of valuable stuff to think through.
* Not For Free - An interesting discussion on whether volunteers should design church websites. Personally I don't quite agree with his argument, but the comments below the article are worth reading through. top

thanks for the ideas cj.

got some good stuff in there. top

g'day anthony,

there are some really helpful ideas there.

are you involved in running the MHC site?

what people resources would go into maintaining it?

grace and peace
dave top