PDA

View Full Version : Input needed on updated NLC web site


ManOfWord
12-08-2007, 03:10 PM
We just updated the NLC web site. I have been looking for a solution for video & audio streaming. Many of the options I found wanted $20-$35/mo for hosting/streaming and a utility to play the media. I currently have 350GB of storage so I don't need additional space. I finally found what I wanted and just got it implemented. Check it out and let me know what you think and what stinks! :D



New Life Church (http://www.newlife-church.org/index2.htm)

SDG
12-08-2007, 03:15 PM
We just updated the NLC web site. I have been looking for a solution for video & audio streaming. Many of the options I found wanted $20-$35/mo for hosting/streaming and a utility to play the media. I currently have 350GB of storage so I don't need additional space. I finally found what I wanted and just got it implemented. Check it out and let me know what you think and what stinks! :D



New Life Church (http://www.newlife-church.org/index2.htm)

Hey Pastor,

Something is making the page take a long time to load ... even when using FireFox .... the content area needs to be cleaned up a little, also - IMO.

ManOfWord
12-08-2007, 03:18 PM
Hey Pastor,

Something is making the page take a long time to load ... even when using FireFox .... the content area needs to be cleaned up a little, also - IMO.

Maybe you need to refresh it. It used to take a REAL long time to load and now it loads up pretty quickly for me, but I have a 1.5mb connection. If you have a slow connection, it may take a while. THANKS!!!!

Jack Shephard
12-08-2007, 03:24 PM
Pastor, it looks good, the only thing I might add is linking the video and sound together to get a better sound quality. You can hear you well, but with adding this it would be clear, almost like watching tv....you know what I mean.

OneAccord
12-08-2007, 03:24 PM
Hey Mow-

Pages loaded fine, but I think Dan is right (this one time). The fnon-flash page is a little...well...impersonal. Doesn't reach out and grab my attention like the old one. More color, "livelier fonts". And pictures... they speak a thousand words. Oh, one more thing.... You left out a long list of "standards" that must be adherred to! LOL

StillStanding
12-08-2007, 03:25 PM
I can't read some of your site information because margin are not set correctly to use with my viewer. This is mostly on the right side of the page. This happens even when I go full screen.

I was thinking about your "staff page" towards the bottom.

ManOfWord
12-08-2007, 03:42 PM
Pastor, it looks good, the only thing I might add is linking the video and sound together to get a better sound quality. You can hear you well, but with adding this it would be clear, almost like watching tv....you know what I mean.

They are linked. It is a flash video file. If they are not synced well together, it is due to the connection speed or the processor in your computer. I checked with different machines and that is what I found.

Hey Mow-

Pages loaded fine, but I think Dan is right (this one time). The fnon-flash page is a little...well...impersonal. Doesn't reach out and grab my attention like the old one. More color, "livelier fonts". And pictures... they speak a thousand words. Oh, one more thing.... You left out a long list of "standards" that must be adherred to! LOL

I'll have to do some work on the page as far as design is concerned. I must have messed up the "standards" page when I updated the site! Oh, wait, now I remember....the list was so long I couldn't get it to fit! :D

I can't read some of your site information because margin are not set correctly to use with my viewer. This is mostly on the right side of the page. This happens even when I go full screen.

I was thinking about your "staff page" towards the bottom.

Hmmmm....that is always the problem with web design, you don't know what resolution someone's screen is or what browser they use. I tested it in Firefox and IE7. Thanks, you guys, for the input!!!

Praxeas
12-08-2007, 05:15 PM
We just updated the NLC web site. I have been looking for a solution for video & audio streaming. Many of the options I found wanted $20-$35/mo for hosting/streaming and a utility to play the media. I currently have 350GB of storage so I don't need additional space. I finally found what I wanted and just got it implemented. Check it out and let me know what you think and what stinks! :D



New Life Church (http://www.newlife-church.org/index2.htm)
The logo and banner graphics need to be edited and made better quality. You can see the pixelated edges in them. The font on the main logo could look better. Try one color and use a drop shadow. For the banner add to the right you need to use anti aliasing. Start off with a larger image and work with that, then reduce in size, never in reverse.

Get rid of the grey box backgrounds. Use one color fade fill (lighter to darker) and consider maybe a small border around them

consider using some back ground for the banner space or a fading color to, then put one thing in it as opposed to the three images you have then put some pics elsewhere in the main page with a heading under it or something about being a family church etc

Also, since you already have the impact "ad" in the body, you don't need it in the header

use "padding" or borders in the boxes (the grey ones) to space the words away from the edges. It will look a lot better.

BTW tell me who hosts your audio/video and where did you get teh code for the player?

PM me if you can, thanks/

Praxeas
12-08-2007, 05:15 PM
Hey Pastor,

Something is making the page take a long time to load ... even when using FireFox .... the content area needs to be cleaned up a little, also - IMO.
It's a shockwave app....I had to get a dl for it. version 10

Praxeas
12-08-2007, 05:17 PM
Maybe you need to refresh it. It used to take a REAL long time to load and now it loads up pretty quickly for me, but I have a 1.5mb connection. If you have a slow connection, it may take a while. THANKS!!!!

It's the shockwave app you have, if someone does not have the plug-in it might cause delays. It also maybe the video...if it is not streaming it might be cue-ing up

ManOfWord
12-08-2007, 06:19 PM
I've tried to clean it up a bit. Is is any better?

I use Dreamweaver and when Prax mentioned "padding" I just realized/found that I can adjust each layer's properties. Duh!!!! :D

Praxeas
12-08-2007, 06:57 PM
The text looks nicer now..you might still try a background color that is a ligher or darker shade of your main color or even a background image that is a gradient fill, but the grey had to go haha

BoredOutOfMyMind
12-08-2007, 07:05 PM
It's the shockwave app you have, if someone does not have the plug-in it might cause delays. It also maybe the video...if it is not streaming it might be cue-ing up

On the NON-Flash site, you are having too much load for the video.

Make a Video page and link to it.

This banner is way to busy.

http://www.newlife-church.org/WebBanner.jpg

Are those members of your church?


New Life Church exists to: Serve God, each other and our community


Motto? Why so small?

Welcome to New Life Church 6511 Milan Rd. Sandusky, OH 419.625.61

Phone?
Map?

Should be at the bottom of the page. If they are not lost at the top, they will want the address when they get to the bottom.

Nice color mix though.

ManOfWord
12-08-2007, 07:16 PM
The text looks nicer now..you might still try a background color that is a ligher or darker shade of your main color or even a background image that is a gradient fill, but the grey had to go haha

Hmmm...lighter than white? :D

ManOfWord
12-08-2007, 07:30 PM
On the NON-Flash site, you are having too much load for the video.

Make a Video page and link to it.

This banner is way to busy.

http://www.newlife-church.org/WebBanner.jpg

Are those members of your church?

No, that is some clip art I found. However, I could probably round up folks who look very similar to each of those!


New Life Church exists to: Serve God, each other and our community


Motto? Why so small?

You mean it's too easy to memorize? Actually, I didn't think it needed to be any larger since it is probably one of the first things people see and read. :D

Welcome to New Life Church 6511 Milan Rd. Sandusky, OH 419.625.61

Phone?
Map?

Should be at the bottom of the page. If they are not lost at the top, they will want the address when they get to the bottom.

Nice color mix though.

I added a Mapquest logo and link. You like? :D

Praxeas
12-08-2007, 07:38 PM
You have lot of blue...let the "white" be just "white space" between content. Use variations of blue or use a color wheel for another color

this one is neat, but only offers continuous but not contrasting
http://www.ficml.org/jemimap/style/color/wheel.html

this one offers all the variations. BTW I have a free extension for fireworks I think that does this

http://www.wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html

This one is cool as it has a randomizer
http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorwheel.asp

this one is cool too, but you have to ender the color by hand (RGB values)
http://design.geckotribe.com/colorwheel/

http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorwizard.asp#wizard

that last one is cool too

ManOfWord
12-08-2007, 08:32 PM
You have lot of blue...let the "white" be just "white space" between content. Use variations of blue or use a color wheel for another color

this one is neat, but only offers continuous but not contrasting
http://www.ficml.org/jemimap/style/color/wheel.html

this one offers all the variations. BTW I have a free extension for fireworks I think that does this

http://www.wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html

This one is cool as it has a randomizer
http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorwheel.asp

this one is cool too, but you have to ender the color by hand (RGB values)
http://design.geckotribe.com/colorwheel/

http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorwizard.asp#wizard

that last one is cool too

OK, I think I understand now. 'Zat better?

BoredOutOfMyMind
12-08-2007, 08:45 PM
I added a Mapquest logo and link. You like? :D

Still a very busy page.

What exactly are you doing with this page?

Cut it down to do THAT and move the other content to other pages.

Leave the mission, your welcome and your photo. The menu at the left will attract them to your other content. Put the address at the bottom below the map link. Add the phone number - do you offer a ride? Put a photo of the vehicle you use.

And in the photos, be sure to have someone making faces at the camera, and by all means have a photo of your empty sanctuary! err- scratch this paragraph.

ManOfWord
12-08-2007, 08:50 PM
Still a very busy page.

What exactly are you doing with this page?

Cut it down to do THAT and move the other content to other pages.

Leave the mission, your welcome and your photo. The menu at the left will attract them to your other content. Put the address at the bottom below the map link. Add the phone number - do you offer a ride? Put a photo of the vehicle you use.

And in the photos, be sure to have someone making faces at the camera, and by all means have a photo of your empty sanctuary! err- scratch this paragraph.

OK, here is my intent. I want to give folks introductory material and then they can find more from the menus. The only exception is the video center, which is small but allows them to get a plethora of material (when I'm finished) without having to go anywhere else. :D

OneAccord
12-08-2007, 08:55 PM
Looking better! One thing: Big black square on left? I see "Click on file to view video" but underneath a big black square. Might be somethin you're workin on, but does look better. To the left of Pastors Video is a man standing lookin up (You?). Huh... I see nekkid elbows!

ManOfWord
12-08-2007, 09:01 PM
Looking better! One thing: Big black square on left? I see "Click on file to view video" but underneath a big black square. Might be somethin you're workin on, but does look better. To the left of Pastors Video is a man standing lookin up (You?). Huh... I see nekkid elbows!

You may need to download Shockwave Flash. The black square is the video viewer.

Yes, that's me. Count yourself lucky that you can only see my nekkid elbows...if I had not cut me off at the torso, you'd see my nekkid knees!!! :D That was a Summer time pic and in the Summer I rarely have on long pants....unless it's Sunday morning! :D

Praxeas
12-08-2007, 09:01 PM
brother, this logo for IMPACT would look at LOT better if you did not use code to reduce the size. You need to resize it smaller in whatever image program you use....making the demensions smaller in the "img" tag makes it look terrible

here is a resize...plus also the demensions you used were not even so it looks distorted

here are two to play with. One is more wide and one is less tall...the less tall has a white back ground so that blends in with the back ground just fine

The file sizes are smaller too. It's alright to use that background color, but what I was saying is the text boxes use a background color that is a lighter shade of the blue you use or a contrasting color. Go to those sites and use the color picker to find different color schemes. Web pages should have 3-4 colors, but not too many. To few is boring

Praxeas
12-08-2007, 09:06 PM
I just realizes the same goes for the rest of the banner. I looked at it and I can see you changed the demensions view the "img" tag.....thats a no no in web page design. That is why it looks funny. It looks great though unaltered

the dimensions are 640 by 114 but in the img tag you have 662/138

why not stick with 640 by 114 then edit the other down to near that size? Because you should never increase the size of an image

here is the impact img with the width at 114...looks great

OneAccord
12-08-2007, 09:10 PM
OK< Bro. I was looking at NON FLASH PAGE. NEW DESIGN is much better. However, have you started two Sunday Am services? If so, why "Beginning September 9th?

Instead of....

NOTE New Service Times!!!!

Starting September 9th, 2007 Two identical services

9am & 11am

G-Force will only be offered during the 11 am service


Why not....

NOTE New Service Times!!!!

Two identical services

9am & 11am

G-Force will only be offered during the 11 am service

Praxeas
12-08-2007, 09:46 PM
here is the banner as one image with a black border..it's the same length as the original banner

Praxeas
12-08-2007, 10:08 PM
check out this DW extension....never buy another template again lol

http://www.webassist.com/professional/products/productdetails.asp?PID=113

ManOfWord
12-08-2007, 11:07 PM
I will work on these changes soon. Thanks for ALL the input and help! For now, I have to get some ZZZZZZ's and be at the church by 7am to finish getting ready for both services. We missed the ice storm so attendance should be good! I guess only pastors think about those things! :D

Night all!

BoredOutOfMyMind
12-08-2007, 11:29 PM
OK, here is my intent. I want to give folks introductory material and then they can find more from the menus. The only exception is the video center, which is small but allows them to get a plethora of material (when I'm finished) without having to go anywhere else. :D

Put the video on a tab from the menu or you will lose those dialup folks.

Ar the ADHD who cannot wait for 130 K to load.

Fast front page with links and information but relavant to say "Come on and see why we are different and click here to learn more"

commonsense
12-08-2007, 11:43 PM
Wow! If I ever need a web page I'll know who to ask!! It's not my area of expertise but I'm impressed by the knowlege and suggestions you all shared.

cool............

ManOfWord
12-09-2007, 02:00 PM
Put the video on a tab from the menu or you will lose those dialup folks.

I made a conscious decision to not worry about the dial up folks. We are pretty much a broadband area and I want to cater to them to a degree.

Ar the ADHD who cannot wait for 130 K to load.

Fast front page with links and information but relavant to say "Come on and see why we are different and click here to learn more"

It does need to be cleaner. Gotta give it some thought. I think I am trying to get them too much info too quickly.

ManOfWord
12-09-2007, 04:06 PM
OK, I did some major work. Not sure if I like the way the page "floats" though. I think it is cleaner, but I have trouble getting the frame with the images to be transparent to let the background image show through.

Maybe I should try another image with similar colors. I used a pic of a sunset I took a while back.

Brother Price
12-09-2007, 04:47 PM
Holy smokes brother! That site looks absolutely incredible! Great work!

ManOfWord
12-10-2007, 08:01 AM
What about the latest changes? Too much? Cleaner? Graphics OK? :D

deacon blues
12-10-2007, 08:21 AM
Nice website elder! I liked your welcome video. I have rgeat memories of that church. Visited there with ABI years ago and then with my youth choir one sumer. Talked to Sister Wasmundt the other day. Dan C. was in Memphis and visited us and was talking to her on the phone and handed the phone to me. It was a pleasure to hear from her.

ManOfWord
12-10-2007, 08:48 AM
Nice website elder! I liked your welcome video. I have rgeat memories of that church. Visited there with ABI years ago and then with my youth choir one sumer. Talked to Sister Wasmundt the other day. Dan C. was in Memphis and visited us and was talking to her on the phone and handed the phone to me. It was a pleasure to hear from her.

Thanks, DB! Danny Boy gets around, doesn't he? :D

I am still working on a visit to your area to see my brother. I haven't made it down there yet. Maybe next week, I'm not sure. You know how this time of year is!!! :D

Be blessed above measure!!!

Hawkman
12-10-2007, 09:05 AM
I can't believe you preach that long! My people would be snoring in 30 min. Music is good though.

rgcraig
12-10-2007, 09:15 AM
Looks great MOW!

Man, folks here were brutal - with friends like this.................

John Atkinson
12-10-2007, 11:16 AM
Hi MOW,

Few observations that have little or nothing to do with the design.

First: Lose the active x control. using a technology on the index page that requires people to install someting is no-no. Seriously Bro, people browsing by are much more likely to click off if they have to install something.

OK, Now, my main observations:

First off bury the flash version of the site. I don't mean, get rid off it, bury bury it into a subfolder like http://www.newlife-church.org/flash/flash.html

The main reason for this is because in the main page of your domain is the flash file. Search engine robots don't know what to do with flash as they read the title, description, and the page text when scanning the site for relevency.

THEN, make the non-flash page the index page. Add more descriptive text to the index page.

Secondly: Populate the Meta Tags. I looked in the code

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>New Life Church</title>

You should replace it with something like this:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>New Life Church ..::.. Impacting the Sandusky Ohio Community!</title>
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="New Life Church is a Church where relationship is valued over religion. NLC has been serving Sandusky, Ohio and surrounding communities since...">

Put someting like that in the <head></head> section of each page. Vary the <title> to match the content of each page. Vary the META description accordingly.

Try to have text content on each page that uses some of the words used in your title and Meta Description.

This is how search engine "spiders" read and classify your page:
<title> ---> <META Description>---> Body copy on the page.

Help the spiders find their way around your site by providing links within the body copy to related pages with in your site.

You may also want to invest in google adwords, you can budget a $1.00 a day and use keywords and phrases like "Church Sandusky" with a bid of say 10 cents a click.

This way if someone googles "Church Sandusky" You will come up on the sponser links on the right. I would target those clicks to a page with basic info, contact info, service schedule and mapquest link.

Well, sorry if I buried you with info Bro. This post is actually now the beginning of a white paper I have been planning to write on SEO for churches.

Thanks for the inspiration!

ManOfWord
12-10-2007, 06:04 PM
Hi MOW,

Few observations that have little or nothing to do with the design.

First: Lose the active x control. using a technology on the index page that requires people to install someting is no-no. Seriously Bro, people browsing by are much more likely to click off if they have to install something.

John, are you referring to the sermon player I have, or is there something else. The sermon/media player is shockwave driven, I believe. The only reason I went with that player is that it is the only one I know of that offers a list of media files to view/play. If there is something else that I can embed and do the same thing, I would love to know about it. I did toss the idea around of having something that needed loaded, but since shockwave is very popular and worked, I took a chance.

OK, Now, my main observations:

First off bury the flash version of the site. I don't mean, get rid off it, bury bury it into a subfolder like http://www.newlife-church.org/flash/flash.html

The main reason for this is because in the main page of your domain is the flash file. Search engine robots don't know what to do with flash as they read the title, description, and the page text when scanning the site for relevency.


Ah, but what you don't know is that I have key words on the "host" page that contains the flash .swf movie. You can't see them because I used the same color as the background and made them so small you couldn't see them anyway.


THEN, make the non-flash page the index page. Add more descriptive text to the index page.

Secondly: Populate the Meta Tags. I looked in the code

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>New Life Church</title>

You should replace it with something like this:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>New Life Church ..::.. Impacting the Sandusky Ohio Community!</title>
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="New Life Church is a Church where relationship is valued over religion. NLC has been serving Sandusky, Ohio and surrounding communities since...">

I added your suggested meta tag.

Put someting like that in the <head></head> section of each page. Vary the <title> to match the content of each page. Vary the META description accordingly.

Try to have text content on each page that uses some of the words used in your title and Meta Description.

This is how search engine "spiders" read and classify your page:
<title> ---> <META Description>---> Body copy on the page.

Help the spiders find their way around your site by providing links within the body copy to related pages with in your site.

I thought I had some meta tags, but I guess that was in my old site's page. I will work on adding those.

You may also want to invest in google adwords, you can budget a $1.00 a day and use keywords and phrases like "Church Sandusky" with a bid of say 10 cents a click.

This way if someone googles "Church Sandusky" You will come up on the sponser links on the right. I would target those clicks to a page with basic info, contact info, service schedule and mapquest link.

This is definitely something I want to look into for the future. So far, I get good search results based upon the stats I can look at from my host, Lunarpages. I get 350 GB of storage and 3500GB of bandwidth/mo. for only $7/mo. So far, their hosting, including email, has been flawless

Well, sorry if I buried you with info Bro. This post is actually now the beginning of a white paper I have been planning to write on SEO for churches.

Thanks for the inspiration!

From one "JA" to another, thanks!!! I appreciate ALL the input I am receiving. It is extremely helpful.

Praxeas
12-10-2007, 09:37 PM
looks better...if you want you might try slicing up the banner into smaller sections. It loads faster that way. The back ground is cool and so are the transparent text boxes.