Six Steps to a Better Web Site
by John Feister

(If you don’t have time to read this now, please take note of the buttons on the right. They are free for the taking, for you to use on your Web site. Click on a button to pick up the html code.)

Q U I C K S C A N

Parish Site of the Month
Worth a Click

A few of us were sitting around some days back, talking about what makes a good parish Web site. Truth be told, out Web Catholic Parish Web Site of the Year competition got us to thinking again after all these years of parish Web site development. What have we learned? What makes a good parish site? Is there any “secret formula”? For starters, we came up with with six ideas to share with you, and we’d welcome your additions—you can post them on our Web Catholic Blog.

Before I pass along our six suggestions, I’d like to tell you about a few features that our Web team has prepared for you to help your Web ministry with coming Church events. First is the feast of Blessed Mother Teresa on September 5. All signs point to this woman, whom many knew as a saint, being someday canonized by the Catholic Church. She remains immensely popular. Our annual feature has been a boost to many sites.

There’s also our back-to-school Web feature, where students and teachers can learn about popular patron saints of education, and send e-greetings to celebrate the new school year. There are also great ideas for teachers and catechetical leaders. This year, we've got a new graphic link for the feature that you can put on your site.

Finally, I’d like to remind those parishes that are holding pet-blessing ceremonies in honor of St. Francis’ feast (October 4) to contact our Web team and get your ceremony added to the Pet Blessings 2007 list.

And don’t forget to send your nominations for the 2007 Web Catholic Parish Web Site of the Year. The deadline is September 1. That brings us back to our opening question. What makes a good parish Web site? Here’s our take:

Six Suggestions for a Great Parish Site

1. Skip the animated GIFs. It’s a tempting trick, but it gets old quickly on your site. It remains there, flailing about, annoying your visitors.
2. While you’re at it, skip the audio background music. Yes, we all love Ave Maria, but it loses a little something on the midi sounds, and it also gets old after a short time, especially in the repeat format by the second or third loop. And consider your parishioners checking out the parish site from their cubicles at work—perhaps they didn’t know their volume was set on loud. You get the idea.
3. Did we mention the background pattern, the one making your text illegible? Once again, just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Better to stick to background colors that don’t compete with the message you’re trying to get people—of all ages and various sight abilities—to read.
4. Lose the “under construction” signs. They don’t exactly deliver a message of confidence, especially when they are on the site week after week. Wait until your page is ready to publish, then publish it. Then announce the new page on your home page with a link to it!
5. No crammed-full pages! I admit, this is an ideal for many of us who have so much information. But it you have to scroll and scroll and scroll to read a page, it likely has too much information. Pace yourself and deliver your content in pleasing, digestible amounts.
6. Do more with less. The best parish Web sites aren’t necessarily the biggest; they are the ones that present what they set out to present in an attractive, simple manner. It is better, in our opinion, to do a small Web site well, than to put in everything you can think of with little care for design or user-friendliness.

Now, tell us your ideas and reactions! Post them at the Web Catholic Blog.

On behalf of the AmericanCatholic.org Web team,

John Feister
Editor, AmericanCatholic.org

Parish Site of the Month

St. Blase Catholic Community (Archdiocese of Detroit)
Here’s a parish site that does a good job organizing a lot of information. The site’s nine main areas (“About Us,” “Stewardship,” “Faith Formation,” “Christian Service,” “Parish Life,” “Liturgy,” “Pastoral Services” and “Popular Links”) are neatly subdivided to prevent overwhelming visitors with too much content on one page. For example, click on “About Us” in the navigation to reveal links to “Staff Profiles,” “Pastoral Council,” “History,” etc. Also, thanks to a nice variety of photos, graphics and header banners that change depending on what section you're in, this text-heavy site is easy on the eyes and fun to browse.

Worth a Click

Father Pat’s Place
Father Pat Umberger has had his Web ministry for 11 years, and he shows no signs of slowing down. Sign up for his site’s popular “Morning Prayer” and “This Weekend” e-mailings, and find resources and prayers for crisis situations. Submit online prayers for friends and family with cancer, and read reviews of books good in times of grief. There are also some light—even fun—sections on Father Pat’s site. He has a Roman numeral converter, a ton of pilgrimage photos, an online cookbook and a Father Pat caricature.

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