Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Site for my church, please critique
bwheeler
03-14-2005, 09:35 AM
About 1.5 years ago my church had a guy who makes webpages for a living make a new website for them and I agreed to maintain the site once it was launched. I have recently decided that the site could use a major face lift and have taken it upon myself to do it.
Here is the current site:
www.bellefield.org (http://www.bellefield.org)
I really felt it needed a couple of modifications, mainly:
1) It is not as intuitive to follow as it could be
2) Modification to the layout to make it easier to read
3) Tighten up the organization of the data
4) Some changes to make it more flexable and scaleable
With these ideas in mind here is what I have done so far:
www.pitt.edu/~bwheeler (http://www.pitt.edu/~bwheeler)
This is only a temporary space to hold the site until it is completed. Once it is done and I get the church approval I will move it to the bellefield domain.
So anyway, let me know what you all think of what I have done so far. Bare in mind I am a systems programmer by trade not a web developer so any links you could provide would help a lot if you have any constructive criticisms. Please do not hold back though, any comments that will help make the site better are welcome. Thanks.
ffurnai
03-14-2005, 10:06 AM
I have recently decided that the site could use a major face lift and have taken it upon myself to do it.
First glance but it doesn't look much like a "major" facelift at all. More of a reordering of the old content.
Actually, I prefer the old menu style to the revamped one.
1. Needs a doctype (http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html)
2. You should validate (http://validator.w3.org/) to see some of the code errors.
Other than that it looks a lot like the old one. . .
:)
Ian
bwheeler
03-14-2005, 10:17 AM
Ok, I will be sure to read the doctype link and see what I should use.
You are right that visually it isn't "that" much different. Unfortunatly, I am not much of an artist. Trying to match colors and pick out nice looking styles is my kryptonite. The more dramatic changes are in the organization of the data.
I did have a chance to run my index page under the validator, but the only errors I got back were the missing doctype and the fact that it didn't like the way I commented my code. I will get the doctype error fixed, but I an not sure what it doesn't like about the way I comment my code or how big of a problem it is.
ffurnai
03-14-2005, 02:17 PM
I did have a chance to run my index page under the validator, but the only errors I got back were the missing doctype and the fact that it didn't like the way I commented my code. I will get the doctype error fixed, but I an not sure what it doesn't like about the way I comment my code or how big of a problem it is.
That's true, but you did ask for comments :) . . . .
thought it was worth mentioning.
the tree
03-14-2005, 02:27 PM
Your HTML is more than a bit outdated. For instance:<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0">We would now do that, something along the lines of this:<body style="background-color:#fff; color:#000; padding:0;">And table based layouts are pretty old-school as well, see my signature.
bwheeler -
Here are a few things for you to consider:
1. Restore the left-hand navigation to the previous location and color scheme, and move the contact information.
Right now, the new format sort of makes the contact information blocky and obtrusive. The beauty of the old format was that the navigation (in a standard location) didn't stand out to compete with the content, but flowed with the design.
Try moving the Contact Information under the banner:
Bellefield Church...
within the maroon stripe, the text being white and placed horizontally, rather than with paragraph breaks
4001 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 | Phone:... | Directions...
Also, I'd retain the simplicity of your previous navigation style. Your site is pretty small, and really you don't need something complicated. Remember that your users will be members of a congregation, with various degrees of computer saavy; if you can present something on simple terms and have it look good: go for it.
2. Hmmm... consider your viewers' screens
My screen resolution is set at 800x600; some of your page is cut off, requiring horizontal scrolling. You might use relative sizing rather than absolute.
3. You might separate the schedule from the other content
You can do this with either a vertical line (border-left: 2px solid black or maroon), or placing the schedule in a shaded box (very light color).
Here is a color schemer you might find helpful:
http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html
4. Nice clean coding, but could stand a DOCTYPE and some metadata in the <head> section. (When you start validating your coding, all that will come to the surface.)
5. You might consider getting rid of the black box around your photos. It makes the page a little blocky.
Hope this helps, and was what you were asking for.
Good Luck -
bwheeler
03-14-2005, 02:44 PM
Originally posted by ffurnai
That's true, but you did ask for comments :) . . . .
thought it was worth mentioning.
Yes, I did ask for comments. Thanks for the input. :cool:
bwheeler
03-14-2005, 02:46 PM
Originally posted by the tree
Your HTML is more than a bit outdated. For instance:<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0">We would now do that, something along the lines of this:<body style="background-color:#fff; color:#000; padding:0;">And table based layouts are pretty old-school as well, see my signature.
Oh, that is the stuff the other guy wrote about 1.5 years ago. He was using some editor so it probably put all that stuff in there for him. With all the nested tables and stuff I just thought it best to leave it alone and not screw with the layout too much. That is another reason I did re-do the site was to clean up the code.
bwheeler
03-14-2005, 02:48 PM
Originally posted by KDLA
Hope this helps, and was what you were asking for.
Good Luck - [/B]
It is what I was asking for and then some. Thanks! Being a systems programmer I miss stuff like you mentioned sometimes.
One thing I did notice about the current site though is the side menu kind of ran right into the information under it and it isn't always too clear where the menu info stops and the other info begins. That is the reason why I tried putting the menu up top and boxing off the information on the left. Also I wanted to able to use the side for other important info that may come up throughout the year so it shows up on every page (ie. last year all the bible studies read "the 40 days of purpose" durring the easter season and it was VERY important that it be clear on the website). Suggestions?
the tree
03-14-2005, 03:00 PM
If you think you can handle it, a total overhaul of the code wouldn't be a bad idea. The layout that you've got is pretty simple and could be achived with a lot less code.
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Concept Layout</title>
<style type="text/css">
div{
border: 1px #000 solid;
padding: 3px;
}
#container{width: 790px;}
#menu{width: 170px; float: left;}
#content{float: right;}
</style>
<head>
<body>
<div id="container">
<div id="header">
<h1>bellefield church</h1>
<p>Services whenever</p>
</div>
<div id="subcontainer">
<div id="menu">
<p>I'd type a menu if I weren't so lazy</p>
</div>
<div id="content">
<p>Content could go here, y'know, if you felt like it.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
ffurnai
03-14-2005, 03:03 PM
One thing I did notice about the current site though is the side menu kind of ran right into the information under it and it isn't always too clear where the menu info stops and the other info begins.
You might be able to achieve this by simply styling your menu a little more. Try adding colors (complimentary) to the menu items to separate them from the info listed beneath it.