Usability expert Jakob Nielsen says Web 2.0 can be bad. "Before throwing spending money at "2.0" features, make sure that you have all the "1.0" requirements working to perfection." He says that most web sites don't yet use terms in headlines and page titles that their visitors would use.
What's the message to church web developers? Before you leap into trying to adopt fancy new techniques, make sure you have done your best using the older methods. Few churches have a lot of time and funds to devote to web work, so make the most of what you have. For example, do you meet all the below criteria on every web page of your current site?
- Each page's code includes keywords appropriate only for that page, a descriptive page title, and a short description.
- Common, non-churchy language and terms.
- Easy navigation that any visitor can understand.
- An uncluttered design .
Don't distract from the text message. - No splash or introductory type page.
Such pages force the visitor to click once again just to get to the real home page. - A minimum of animated graphics.
Animated graphics pull the eye away from the main content area, which should be the meat of the page. - A good contrast of text and background.
A background image may look great, but also make text hard to read when placed on top of it. - Text is easy to read at any common screen resolutions.
A fixed 10pt font on a 1024x768 screen resolution is "squint print". - Visitors can easily resize text.
At over 1024x768 pixel resolution, visitors may need to enlarge small text to make it easy to read.
