As I look at more and more sites, yours isn’t as bad as many others. Of course, it still could use some work, but as I said in my review it’s just a “bit” Christianese.

This is a large challenge for many churches, as you want to profess the Gospel openly, but not turn off any visitors before they have a chance to come in.

< < thick borders on tables >>

I’m certainly not a style expert – I’m better with the nuts and bolts. However, tables are heading out of style quickly (though I still use them a lot) and tables with thick borders went out a few years ago. Certainly not a bit deal, though.

< < Once a URL is bookmarked, who cares what it is? >>

I agree with that completely. However, it’s very hard to TELL people about a site and hope that they’ll remember “www-dot-g-b-g-m-dash-u-m-c-dot-org-slash-standrewumc” rather than simply “standrewumc-dot-org” (or whatever). That being said, I can’t fault you for wanting to put your money to other uses.

< < Meta tags >>

Don’t worry about them – they’ve been abused for so long that they’re virtually useless. Focus on good content on your pages and that will serve you far better.

< < separate window >>

I simply consider this bad practice, although it can be argued both ways. Jakob Nielsen is a well-respected expert on web usability and I share his thoughts on it. The best article can be found here:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/open_new_windows.html

To quote from it:

**************

Since 1999, it’s been a firm Web usability guideline to refrain from opening new browser windows for several reasons:

* When new windows appear that users didn’t ask for, it’s both confusing and disruptive.
* If the new window completely obscures the old one, many users don’t even realize a new window has opened.
* Less-technical users can’t manage multiple windows.
* New windows can defeat users who are blind or have low vision, as, for example, when a new window opens outside the part of the screen that’s magnified for a low-vision user.

The common rationale designers have for opening new windows is “to keep users on our site,” but that’s bogus reasoning. If people want to leave, they’ll leave. And if they just want to look at the other site, they’ll return to your site by clicking the Back button — the second most used feature on the Web (after hypertext links). In fact, one of the usability problems of opening new windows is that they alter the expected behavior for returning to the previous location.

**************

< < staff people >>

I’m coming at this from the perspective of a new visitor to your site, not someone that is already familiar with the church. I don’t need a full background on the staff members, but a photo would be nice.

< < facility >>

I wasn’t aware your church was that small, which is a testament to how much information you have on the site. Also, I’m coming from a large church with awful signage, so having more info on the website is helpful for us.

< < In one paragraph you praise the contact us on every page and in another paragraph you diss the name of the church on every page! >>

I guess I wasn’t clear about what I meant by “title”. The title of a page is the text that shows up in the blue address bar at the top of your browser (and also is the default text for bookmarks). It’s quite important to keep that information accurate for EACH page, which isn’t possible with frames.

< < keeping menu buttons on the screen when people scroll down through a page of information--how would I do that without a separate frame on the left? >>

Simply put – you don’t. That certainly is a good argument for keeping frames, but I think it’s the only argument in that direction. Users are used to scrolling up to find the menu if it gets out of view. Also, pages should never be excessively long anyhow – if they get long, they should be broken up into individual pages.

< < pictures >>

I know it can be tough permission-wise. Just wanted to mention it.

I will ponder the “Christian-ese” problem… Admittedly, the home page contains the text from the church’s mission statement verbatim. I’m the preacher’s wife, and using what they already had was the quickest way to get started. I have tried to change up the Ministries page to be more non-UM or non-Christian friendly. I am such an introvert that the evangelism & witness part don’t come very easily to me.

Re: thick borders on tables… all pages? or some specific place(s)?

I don’t have a budget and even $8.95 would better go to children’s choir music from my pocket, imo. Once a URL is bookmarked, who cares what it is? (I know what your response is, so don’t waste keystrokes. ) It’s not the URL that people remember… it’s what they search for in Google, right? Meta tags, etc… I still have some research & work to do on those, but I’ve been reading your articles and whittling away.

I have the calendar in a separate window because I just use the output of Outlook for speed. I used to add a line that said “Close this window to return to the site.” or some such at the top, but then I got lazy and thought computer literate folks know how to close a window anyway. I don’t think new windows are a negative. In fact, they are recommended when linking to another site (e.g., our links page), so the user never really leaves your site.

If I had staff people who would contribute and wanted their own page, I would do what you say. However, the pastor and the youth coordinator communicate via the newsletter… I could add links from homepage to those… let me noodle on that, because the filenames change, etc…. Do people really want to read about a staff person’s background? Or are you thinking of having a brief welcome message? I suppose having their personal email addresses would be good, but the pastor gets the email at the church anyway and the youth coordinator’s address is on the youth page already (with cell phone & offer of a ride). I have yet to receive an email from the website… or maybe one last year sometime?

Facility. Mickey, we are just not that big… we don’t even call it a “campus.” And once you turn into the (one) parking lot, the signage is pretty good. Well, we’re actually in a “transformation churches” program which involves among other things an expert visiting our facilities and making recommendations, so “we shall see” as the saying goes. However, I will keep the “making people comfortable about finding things once they get here” suggestion in mind. I could at least improve the contact page.

I have been working on the search engine vs. frames issues. The logo links back to the index page, so landing on a page from the search engine results can be “fixed” with one click. Not perfect, I admit, but surely “decent.” In one paragraph you praise the contact us on every page and in another paragraph you diss the name of the church on every page! Actually, the UMConnect folks are the ones who convinced me to have it “everywhere,” and I use SSI for that anyway, not a frame. There is only the menu frame on the left and the content frame on the right.
Re: keeping menu buttons on the screen when people scroll down through a page of information–how would I do that without a separate frame on the left?

I wrestle with pictures. I do have some, of the kids, but I checked with their parents before doing that. It’s the question of permission to put someone on the internet. No, don’t spend keystrokes on this one either, as we have discussed it to death on UMConnect, more than once! I still modify the newsletter instead of using PDF so I can remove last names & phone #’s—-although I exclude the newsletter pages/files in my robots file. (?) Anyway, I am about to start working on a presentation for our big stewardship Sunday next month, so maybe I can find some good ones to put on the site…. at least until I hit the 5 meg max at GBGM. I have also changed the anchor logo to images of our altar decorated for different occasions… still not people, but at least it’s the inside of our facility!