Church web site design change

Avondale Pattillo United Methodist Church recently updated the design of its web pages. Some of their decision-making process may help other churches.

Why a design change?

• Inconsistent design across all 140 pages on their web site.
• Inconsistent use of sidebar content.
• Inconsistent color scheme across all pages.
• A desire to use less clip art and more photos on pages.
• The HTML code contained elements that were on the list to be outdated (deprecated) by the World Wide Web Consortium.
• A desire to keep the whole home page content visible on a 1024x768 pixel resolution screen.

APUMC made many changes in order to give a consistent, "professional" appearance, help navigation, and speed findign information:

• Adopted one design for all web pages, with two exceptions:
• Pages that were part of a prior years' training sessions. (That whole training section may be revised or even eliminated later).
• "Resources for United Methodist Leaders" pages.  These had a different look deliberately and are aimed at a different audience from most of the site.
• Placed "utility" links at the top right, above their header.
• Used the specific "APUMC" instead of the common but generic "Home" as the link to their home page.
• Used the clearly understandable "A-Z Index" instead of the more geeky "SiteMap".
• Placed the search box to the right right above the header.
• Placed links to their main sections (Calendar, Ministries, Resources, Services, and Visit Us) in a horizontal bar just under the header and used unique hover colors for these links.
• Placed sub-section menus (in Ministries, for example) to the left of the central content and used unique hover colors for these links.
• Used a standard footer that included:
• Church name, address, and church office phone number.
• "This page was last updated: "
• "Contact Us" link
• "Notice & Privacy Policy" link
• "Share this page" (using AddThis.com) link area
• Used standard formatting for varied HTML elements, via an updated Cascading Style Sheet.
• Used two "QuickLinks" boxes on the home page ... one with links for visitors and one for members.
• Added photos on most "special section" pages for Lent through Easter and for Advent through Epiphany.