Jesus Hates Papyrus » online

Sprout, worth checking out.

Michael Buckingham — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:52:47 +0000

I ran across this little tool when I was at the HOW Design Conference…I remain a big proponent of a tailored solution that fits your personality and resonates with you brand keeping everything consistent but it’s a tool worth looking at that can bring some dynamic content to your blog or website (without having to call us to develop it for you.)

It’s called Sprout Builder and it can do all sorts of things from calendars, embedding video, you name it. Now don’t get me wrong, this does not replace the effectiveness of a fully integrated element within your website and I really don’t recommend a large deployment on your church’s website but it is worth looking at when you need something in a pinch.

Here’s an example of embedding an RSS feed

Or perhaps you’re trying to raise money:

So give it a try and let me know what you think of it and how you’ve used the tool.

Reason #714 to drop IE : Porn mode

Michael Buckingham — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:03:31 +0000

Okay, maybe there aren’t really 713 reasons to not use IE…but there are a number of them. The number one reason is: Firefox is just better. The number two reason: IE is a pain to develop for and now Microsoft gives us a new reason: Porn mode.

Fox news reports that Microsoft’s latest Internet browser includes a piece of software that allows Internet users to hide the audit trail of websites they have visited.

The InPrivate feature on Internet Explorer 8, nicknamed “porn mode”, allows users to conceal the sites they have viewed at the click of a button.

Granted, you can do the same thing in every browser…but they’re highlighting it and giving it a special button…and it’s a good excuse to get all churches moved over to Firefox and then every developer has one less browser to test for. Win!

Are you a twit?

Michael Buckingham — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:58:36 +0000

I’ll be honest, I didn’t think it would stick…but twitter just doesn’t seem to be going away. So…that means it’s time to investigate and consider jumping on the twittering boat.

So what do you think? Do you twitter, do you follow anyone? Is it worth the time?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

And the gold goes to…

Michael Buckingham — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:03:05 +0000

Had a great time hanging out with fellow designers and design studios Thursday night at the 2008 ADDY Awards. These are the best of the best, the top designers showing their best work. It was a great opportunity to not just socialize with people on the same page, but also a time to fill up the old creative tank full of great inspiration from all the work shown.

And I am delighted to announce that we were awarded a Gold ADDY for the design and development of Crosspointe Church’s website.

It was a unique (and exciting) experience in that I felt what it feels like for the Emmy winners, sitting there and waiting for the announcement. I knew we had been selected, but I didn’t know at what level…of course I was hoping for a Gold, but we were up against some great work by design studios much larger than ours. I don’t normally get nervous, but that night I was full of anticipation.

Not only was it a great honor for Holy Cow Creative, but I also celebrated the fact that among all the great work displayed, a website for a church was awarded the gold. I trust that seeded with those there that the church isn’t just relevant…but it is also a place of excellence.

The no money, no talent website

Michael Buckingham — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:57:28 +0000

I believe in working in the giftings and talents that God has given you. I don’t believe God intends you to do something you were not created to do. My best advice is if you’re not gifted in the field of website development (or design, or singing, or whatever) is to find someone that is and let them work in their giftings. This not only allows them to use their talents, but also doesn’t distract you from using your other talents. We’ll talk more about that in future conversations.

With that said I understand sometimes that’s not possible, or at least not without ruffling all sorts of feathers, and you’re going to launch the site either way. One of the most straightforward and simplified tools out there for such cases is WordPress. It’s what I use for this blog and what some use for not just their personal sites but also church websites. So for those of you who are going to press forward here are some links that should help. If you get stuck give me a shout and I’ll do my best to help you out.

But I thought WordPress was just for blogs:

WordPress for non-blog websites
Website powered by WordPress
WordPress as CMS

Now let’s help you build your church website:

Installing WordPress (for free)

Find a template (and this is just one example site) as your starting point and then customize it with your flavor…make it your own. There are thousands of free templates available, but please use these as layout templates and be original with the design.

Of course we don’t want this to look like a blog so aside from the fabulous design you created with the layout template here are a couple of great and easy ways to make it feel like a website:

Create a static page for your home page.
Then spend some time with your menu.

And let the fun begin…run all this on a test server and try different things out, make some mistakes…you can do it. If not give me a shout.