Steps to newsletter success

Author Roger Parker lists 12 steps to newsletter success. Here are a few:

• Be consistent – in frequency, number of pages, ...
• Choose a distinctive nameplate (also called a "flag" – the part that has the publication title).
• Choose effective columns and margins layout. Make effective use of white space. Don't try to fill every inch of every column.
• Make headlines and subheads easy to find and easy to read.
• Use subheads to break up "gray" blocks of text.
• Make body copy as easy to read as possible. (choose a good font, use adequate font sizes, use ragged right text, ...)
• Use good grammar and punctuation.
• Use photo captions.
• Be restrained in any use of color.
• Check "the details" of your newsletter – Avoid widows and orphans in lines and subheads; use non-breaking spaces to keep first and last names (and similar) together. In MS Word, that's Shift+Alt+spacebar.
• Keep the design simple. Create a newsletter template, then use it! In the template, create "styles" for a few levels headlines plus subheads, body text, etc.

Church website design checklist

"Does your church's website communicate to outsiders as well as to the members?" asks a new web resource. A church site is the congregation's 'shop window' to its community. To fulfill this function well, it must be enticing, people-centered and easily understood by outsiders.

Because many churches are unsure how to achieve this vital mix, the folks at Gospeccom have developed a Church Site Design Checklist that you fill out online and immediately see the score.

This helpful tool is a product of the Internet Evangelism Day team.

The Internet Evangelism Day ('IE Day') website also explains other types of online evangelism, such as outreach sites, video clips, blogging and podcasts. There is even a free 'conversation starter' screen-saver to download.

Cokesbury updates web

The Cokesbury web site may have changed a bit since you or your church Education Coordinator (or similar) visited it last. Check out these links, mentioned in their recent Christian Education Showcase email message:

• Children's Engaging Center
• Youth Empowering Center
• Adult Enriching Center
• Teacher Training and Helps

Common desktop publishing mistakes

A good place for church communications people to start in a review of church publications is the key mistakes many make in desktop publishing:

• Gray pages
  (Caused by too much text, crowded line spacing, crowded headlines, or margins crammed to the edge)
• Poor use of white space on pages
• Long or very short lines of type
• Narrow columns of justified type
• Inappropriate, distracting borders
• Overuse of reverse text, screens, borders, or rules
• Wrong punctuation (quotes, hyphens, and spaces)
• Widowed or orphaned text or subheads
• Colored text

These points come from Roger C. Parker, author of several desktop publishing books, including “One Minute Designer,” and NewEntrepeneur.com. He has several web pages of points and even checklists related to design of publications.

Read more in Roger’s “Desktop publishing’s twelve most common mistakes. His Pre-Flight Checklist is a handy reminder of the many aspects of publications that you should consider. Print it out and use it to check your Worship Bulletin and your church newsletter.

Avoid being ugly

Rick Altman says that the aim of the average person doing design (such as newsletters, bulletins, flyers, or graphics) should be the "absence of ugliness."

While that at first may seem harsh, he's pointing out that it's not realistic for average people to assume that they can become a professional designer in their spare time. Instead, he asserts, they should adopt simple techniques that will help them stay away from making ugly creations.

This also dovetails with a maxim of web site design – it's better to have no web site than to have an ugly one. Looks does count to visitors! Ugly stops them cold in their tracks.

Of course, content matters, so even if the product is not ugly, the text has to keep people reading.

Tiny fonts need alias

The smoothing out of fonts, called anti-aliasing, makes them look better on screen. But anti-aliasing turns out to be a bad thing at very small font sizes.

Fonts in the 8 point and under range look better "aliased". But merely turning off anti-aliasing for a font doesn't do the trick. You actually need special fonts created for use at what I call "squint print" size.

A recent "Design View" newsletter article from Sitepoint, "Tiny Typefaces - Five Fine, Free Fonts," gives examples and more details. (You can subscribe and get their newsletters by email or just periodically check out their web site.)

Googlers may want to search for "free tiny font." For the squintiest of "squint print", try the diminutive 4pt "Tiny" font at a very punny site, "I Shot the Serif". Hmm ... I hope lawyers -- those purveyors of fine print -- don't read this blog.

Another choice, especially for display of code, is one of the Proggy fonts, designed by and for coders.

Church bulletin design goals

When considering the design (or more likely redesign) of a church worship bulletin, we need to keep several goals in mind. These goals are the basis for specific objectives that will make a worship bulletin more “welcoming” to members and visitors alike.

• Design Goal 1: Make items easily to find fast
• Design Goal 2. Make text an easy read
• Design Goal 3. Make it easy for people to speak in unison during unison readings
• Design Goal 4. Make the electronic version "modern", not "old style"
• Design Goal 5. Eliminate distracting elements

Use established principles and techniques to accomplish the objectives. Most publishing industry principles and methods apply directly (or with slight adjustment) to church publications.

In the coming weeks, we'll address each of the above goals.

Blog Design tips

People are often wary about starting "something completely different", as Monty Python's saying went. That's also true when it comes to new technologies and new uses of technology. While blogs caught on monumentally, many are still in the dark about what they are, how much work it takes to start one, and so on.

The best bet is to start simple. I started with Google's Blogger because of Google's reputation for clean and easy to use interfaces. I have not been disappointed. The new Blogger (now out of beta) is no exception. They have made the drag and drop layout interface very easy to use.

Another aspect of blogs is their design. Free templates for your favorite blogging service, such as Blogger, are readily available online. Of course, each blog service usually provides a small variety of decent ones to start with (like this one from Blogger).

But beyond that, it's a good idea to seek tips on both design. So I did a – yep, you guessed it – Google Search for blog design tips, which yielded a ton of potential jewels.

Microsoft, Yahoo! adopt Google sitemaps

Both Microsoft and Yahoo! have announced support of Google's sitemaps instead of developing an alternative method. Sitemaps help webcrawlers crawl your site better, thus improving search results.

As part of this agreement, the three parties are co-sponsoring a new web site, Sitemaps.org, which has details about the new sitemaps process. The new method uses XML tags, by the way.

Google will support existing sitemaps, their posting at the Google Webmaster Central blog says.

Email sigs pull visitors

So you have a great church web site and promoted it well. It includes down-to-earth plain language, people-oriented information, and is much more than just an online brochure. You added meta tags to each page that include all the topics on that page. You have added good "Description" meta tags. Your text on the page is brief, interesting, and in the "inverted pyramid" style -- most important information first. You have the web address on all printed materials, including business cards. It's even on your church roadside sign.

But the number of visitors to your site is not as high you'd like. What else can you do to promote your church? Increase the number of people who know your web address by using a couple of site tips that employ email.

• Email signatures of members. Have every church member add the following to the bottom of every email they send (under their signature or "sig" area):
  
  "My church: http://church-web-address"
  
  You get instant promotion to a lot of people. Some of those email recipients may check it out. Some may pass it on to others.
• Church leader sigs. Include the church street address, web address, email address, and phone number on every email any church leader sends in their official capacity. By church leaders I mean to include every member of every committee or work area in the church.

What site activities do you offer?

A web site can offer many different "activities" for visitors:

• Email contacts
• Fill out polls or surveys
• Add or send information via forms
• Notify visitors via subscriptions
• Notify visitors via Web alerts
• Track Web site visitors with web site analytics and traffic reports
• Build online communities -- blogs, forums, other community avenues

Decide which activities your web editing team can handle, prioritize them, and then charge ahead on priority one. If your existing web hosting or content management system (CMS) doesn't offer some of the above, there are many free resources available, including those below:

• Free survey - SurveyMonkey. Others ...
• Free analytics -- Google sitemap and Google analytics. Others...
• Free blog - Google Blogger. Others...

Writely has become Google Docs

Google has now renamed Writely and made it part of Google Docs & Spreadsheets.

A fast test of the interface shows that it includes:

• Full-screen width text writing and editing.
• Common and easy to understand icons for buttons, such as bold, font, hyperlink, text alignment, cut, copy, and paste.
• Toolbar "Style" includes frequently used options, but no ability to add a style.
• Spell-check, with the ability to add words to your dictionary.
• Periodic auto-save.
• Collaborate with other .
• A "Publish" capability that can send a doc to a blog (but not multiple blogs).
• Insert an image, table, comment, bookmark separator, or special character.
• Edit the HTML that makes up the doc.
• Track revisions.
• Preview
• Save as Open Office or even PDF

Web Directions South resources now online

Get session notes, handouts, speakers' slides, and eventually podcasts of the sessions for the Web Directions South conference held in Syndey from September 26-29, 2006 at WD06 Resources.

Session topics include:

• Design
• Accessibility
• Web standards
• RSS
• Online communities

Surf and learn.

Corporate logo library

BrandsOfTheWorld.com is a free library of brands and logos. The service is searchable, categorized and provides scalable vector versions (usually EPS) of thousands of logos.

Could your web site use Catfish?

Catfish. n., A horizontal area at the bottom of a web page that overlays the normal page content until closed by the user. It's a "bottom-dweller", hence the name coined by Sitepoint, which started this technique a while back.

Matt Oakes has improved on it using a JQuery plugin. Check out both Catfish and JQuery to see if you might be able to make use of them.

Although Catfish was originally designed for ads, I see possible use as a cool and unusual "announcement" method.

• Catfish - Part 1 (Sitepoint)
• Catfish - Part 1
• JQuery
• JQuery implementation of Catfish
• SitePoint blogs

UMC now offers free Web Ministry 101 course

United Methodist Communications today announced the launching of Web Ministry 101. The free online on-demand training aims to let you and your local church use the internet for effective Web ministry.

Register for Web Ministry 101

After you have register, you will get an email with a link to the training sessions. This is self-paced, so take any or all of the four-part training. Come back later to finish or for a refresher.

Related resource

• Web Ministry Resource Center, which contains the Web Ministry Planning Guide and more.

After each training session, a link at the end of each training session gives you a chance to complete an online survey. A follow-up email will also contain that survey link.

UMC announces sneak peek at new site

United Methodist Communications today announced that a "sneak peek" at the new UMC.org site is now ready for previewing.

Access the sneak peek at http://www.umc.org/; click the "sneak peek" image banner link (in the center middle of the page) to experience the preview site.

View the short introductory video, then select one of the links to new features. After checking out a new feature, please give feedback. UMComm is actively seeking comments in order to make the final site better meet visitors' needs when the site "goes live" in January 2007.

Blog startup tips

Thinking of starting a blog? Below are some things to consider and postings to read:

• Decide on your target readership.
  If you don't know or can't define it, don't start a blog yet. On the other hand, readership may evolve as the content evolves.
• Blog what you know, who you are, or what you like.
  If what you know includes what you like, that's even more rewarding for both you and your readers.
• Decide on the type of content.
  Remember that this may change as you go, but you need to focus on a starting point. A blog may start as purely informative, shepherding people to postings at other blogs and web sites, but later start to add original content and even opinion.
• Select hosting and software based on technical expertise (and time) available.
  Blogger, as one example, is an easy one for novices yet allows more advanced coding, if that's your thing. Typepad (Moveable Type) and WordPress blogs generally require some coding expertise. If you cannot devote a lot of time, you may want a simpler platform even if you are a coder.
• Select a name that conveys what the blog is about.
  It may well help your blog rise in search results.
• How to start a blog. This series of postings might also be called "how to emulate the A-List bloggers". Excellence alone is not enough.

Church bulletin content, design

Most every church has both a Sunday Worship bulletin plus a periodic church newsletter. What goes in which? This is something that the Worship Work Area (will we never adopt the "normal" word "committee"?) and Administrative Council should deal with. It's a policy type decision. Making such a decision official helps everyone involved with the production of these publications.

Tips in Reformed Worship magazine are a good place to start in your decision-making process. The article covers the bulletin's purpose, cover, content, and composition. Some key points in the article:

Cover and Content

• Importance. Congregations acknowledge the important of the Sunday bulletin, but few put much effort into improving this crucial communications tool.
• Purpose. Specify a purpose for the Sunday bulletin and one for the church newsletter.
  Make sure the content and composition of each satisfies the stated purpose.
  
• Impression. Your Sunday bulletin says a lot about your church. Is it saying what you want?
  [Does it use church jargon? Does it have large blocks of text? Does it look crammed together? Can people, both members and visitors, quickly and easily find what they are looking for during the worship service? Etc.]
• Decisions. The Worship work area/committee and Administrative Board or Council should decide matters such as what types of information go in which of the publications (bulletin and newsletter) and who decides what gets in the publication when there's more information than space allows.
  
• Cover. The cover of the bulletin gives an initial and lasting impression and as such deserves special attention.
  Is that impression one you want?
• Ease of use. Matters such as size and number of folds affect how "user-friendly" a bulletin or newsletter is.

Design

Some tips for good composition:

• Simple. Use a modern, clean look. Use standard sections such as Order of Worship, Prayer Requests, Church Calendar, and Announcements.
  
• Short. [A standard goal in modern writing is to aim for a 50% reduction in words from the draft to final stage]. Omit items in the bulletin that can wait for the next newsletter.
• Spacious. Use white space to make the design attractive and to separate unrelated elements. Large blocks of text discourage reading.
  
• Sensitive. Be sensitive not only to privacy concerns of members but also to who will read the bulletin, including children. Make at least part of the bulletin attractive for kids. Avoid church jargon.
  
• Superior quality. "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well."
  

Site planning lowers problems

Many church webs sites would benefit greatly from better planning. While in the military, I heard an old maxim ... "One minute of planning saves 12 minutes of execution". In other words, a good plan prevents wasted time later. This certainly pertains to web sites.

When thinking about creating or changing a web site, a good place to start is Gospelcom's " Your first two questions" page. The page even has a Planning Worksheet.

Plan for:

• Clear writing (it doesn't come easy)
• Good accessibility (by people with varied disabilities)
• Great usability (for example, is text easy to scan and the site is easy to navigate).

"Who-What-Where-When-Why" is a standard journalism standard for writing a straight news story. Let's apply that standard to web site planning:

• Who do you want to reach with your web site?
• What results do you hope to get from your web site?
• Where will you host the site? Costs, services, and support vary widely.
• When does you church want this done? Be realistic.
• Why have a web? If your church can't answer this with enthusiasm, forget it.

Some related links:

• Planning your web site design (Macromedia -- now Adobe)
• Planning (Web Style Guide)
• Web site planning (TechSoup)
• Site Planning Basics - what you should know before you design a web site