Church Website Design Table of Contents

Published: 1/19/2007

Author: Timothy Fish

Source: http://Church Website Design Book Site

This is an archived article to see the current version visit http://www.timothyfish.net/Article.asp?ID=31.


Table of Contents
Preface:The Purpose and Audiencexi
Step 1:Decide To Have A Website1
The Costs Of A Website1
The Benefits Of A Website2
The Website As A Ministry4
Is It Worth It?5
The Stone Chapel Church6
Step 2:Select a Ministry Team7
Working With What You Have8
The Role Of The Ministry Leader9
The Role Of The Webmaster10
The Role Of Artistic Director10
The Dividing Lines11
Step 3:Determine The Content13
Determine The Audience14
Targeting Those on the Outside14
Those Seeking a Church14
Those With No Interest16
Targeting Those on the Inside17
Deciding What You Really Need19
The Content For The Example20
Step 4:Design The Website23
Designing For Maintainability24
How Websites Are Designed24
Reducing the Work To Make Changes26
Let The Computer Make The Copies28
Design For Usability28
Make The Design Understandable29
Handling Important Information32
Incorporate The Church33
Make the Website Look Like the Church33
Find Elements To Incorporate34
Elements That Shouldn’t Be Included35
Concerning Copyrights37
Can I Use What I Download?38
Live By A Higher Standard38
Exceptions To The Rule39
Purpose and Character of Use40
The Nature of the Copyrighted Work41
Amount Used41
Market Impact41
More Design Work42
Step 5:Learn the Tools of the Trade47
Extensible HyperText Markup Language48
Exercise 1: A Simple XHTML Document49
<!DOCTYPE> Tag49
<html> Tag50
<head> Tag50
<body> Tag50
<base> Tag51
<link> Tag52
<meta> Tag52
<script> Tag52
<style> Tag52
<title> Tag53
Validate the Example54
Exercise 2: Creating the Document Text54
Attributes55
The Exercise56
Hyperlinks60
Images61
Exercise 3: Creating a List61
Definition List62
Ordered List62
Unordered List62
Nested or Sub Lists63
Exercise 4: Creating a Table63
More to Learn64
Cascading Style Sheets64
The Basic Syntax65
How It Is Used65
Exercise 5: My First “Website”66
Creating the Site67
Modifying the Site71
Setting Positions75
Server Scripts77
Active Server Pages78
Databases79
A Lot of Material80
Step 6:Find a Server83
Three Options83
The Homespun Web Server83
Free Web Space84
Using a Hosting Company87
Shared vs. Dedicated Server87
Features88
Choosing a Solution89
Determining the Needs89
Finding a Server to Meet the Needs90
Domain Registration91
Putting It Off92
Step 7:Do Detailed Design95
Designing the Layout96
Exercise 6: Designing the Layout98
Draw the Design98
Choosing Colors100
The Affect of Color100
Combining Colors102
Breaking the Design Apart104
Start With XHTML and CSS105
Optimize For Speed106
Cut The Images Into Segments107
Build the XHTML and CSS Files108
Add the Layout Divisions109
Layout the Main Text Area116
Background On The Technique117
Drawing With Empty Space121
The Final Touch124
Trying It Out124
Designing the Content125
Review the Initial Design126
Designing the Calendar127
Designing The Sermons Page128
Designing the Photo Page129
Exercise 7: The Design Review129
Who Should Be Invited130
Preparing For The Design Review130
Conducting The Design Review132
The Formal Review132
The Informal Review133
Handling a Design Defect133
What a Defect Is134
Making The Modification134
A Successful Design Review135
Step 8:Develop The Code137
Don’t Panic!137
Setting Up The Environment138
The Local Machine138
The Web Server138
Exercise 8: An ASP Application140
Setup140
The Page.ASP File142
A New Index144
Pointing the Server at an Index144
Creating Index.ASP145
A New Way To Do Web Pages149
Creating a Place to Store the Information150
Reading the Database151
The Article List155
Adding Articles160
The Finishing Touches168
Step 9:Testing the Website171
The Things to be Tested172
Who Should Do the Testing172
How To Do The Testing173
Looking For Errors173
Usability Testing175
Validating the XHTML176
Step 10:Deploy the Site177
The Big Announcement177
Tell The World178
The Printed Media178
Back Links179
Optimize the Site182
Title Tag182
The URL182
Special Tags183
Search Words183
Hidden Text183
Develop Content184
The Unknown184
Step 11:Stay the Course185
Maintenance: The Real Work185
A Work Schedule187
Version Control188
Meeting Goals189
Realistic Goals189
Website Statistics191
Encouraging Usage193
Staying Enthused194
Prepare a Replacement195
Selecting a Replacement196
Training a Replacement197
A Half Step:Some Parting Thoughts199
Music and Other Audio Files199
Guest Books and Text Input200
Photos201
Outsourcing201
Keep Learning202
Appendix A:XHTML 1.1A-1
Appendix B:Cascading Style SheetsB-1