Note: You are reading this message either because you did not load our stylesheets, or you are not using a standards-compliant browser. Please consider using one of these browsers to view this web site: Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, or Safari (Mac).

Silas Notes

Church of the Incarnation

A site with real people
Posted by Jacob on July 12, 2007
2

I found the Church of the Incarnation website via Godbit. Overall I think it is a great website: good looking and easy to navigate.

There are two things I want to point out about the homepage. The first is an idea I’ve thrown around here before, Doug can attest that I’m not stealing it from this site if we do it in the future. On the homepage there is a clear heading for the next service.

Doug and I got into a debate about just showing one service and whether or not it works. I think it makes it simple for someone thinking about attended and Doug pointed out the trade-off that it could look like the only way to connect with the church is that one service.

He’s right that is a danger. Seeing it in practice, I feel highlighting the next time someone can be involved in the worship life of a faith community is a smart idea.

The other thing I love about the site is the big “three column” picture on the homepage. It is of the people worshiping, and you can tell these are real people! It also clearly communicates what this faith community is about.

What do you think of this site? Let us know in the comments. I know people read this blog, so I am declaring today anti-lurker Thursday. What does this decree mean? That thou shalt not lurk, but be part of the conversation, you’ll be glad you did.

  1. Though I think it is a good idea to list the next service time, I do think there should be a link to additional service times. Something as simple as “View Our Service Times >>” in a text link would have worked.

    Also a nice list of the services would be nice so someone could quickly find the information, instead of having to read through the entire page.

    The right sidebar “More Information” navigation is hard to read, the color blends more with the background when it should contrast.

    Posted by Matt Blasi Jul 13

  2. As surprising as this maybe to some, the priority of promoting a Sunday service is not of greater importance to other items. This prioritization is not set by a designer but by the church and most churches see getting people to practice their faith monday through saturday as greater importance to getting people to the pews on Sunday. Debate we will, but each church has to define why they exist online.

    Of course you do not want to ignore the audience that simply needs to know the “when and where” info so it’s important to make that link accessible one click away.

    BTW the way - I love this church just merely because they have a Euchre club!

    Posted by michael Jul 16

Leave a comment