John Pape Online Blog

Project Description

This web site is for a ministry that assists people in sharing their faith.  Specifically, they teach presentation skills.   Individuals will learn how to present their unique message to small, medium and large groups.  This ministry is headed by Mary Ann Mariani.  The web site is a place where visitors can learn about various workshops that are available to help them with presentation skills.

Design Process

For this project I wanted to learn as much as I could about the organization and what their goals were.  I needed to get an understanding of what Kingdom Presenters wanted the user to experience.  In the beginning phase the goal was to provide information about Kingdom Presenters and to provide credentials and principals of the organization.   Also in this process it was important to get an understanding of the visual elements that would augment the message.

Graphic Design

With an understanding of the organization I started to create the Kingdom Presenters logo.  The idea was to show the kingship of God.  The elements of the heraldic shield with wings, banner and crown was selected.  The color theme would be Gold and Purple both very royal colors.

The next point of action was to create an effective web layout that was clean and easy to navigate.  From here Photoshop was opened and began to create the basic layout.  Several ideas were created and the best solution was selected.

Building the Site

Upon approval by Kingdom Presenters it was now time to develop the website.  First, the graphic image was spliced in Photoshop.  Each graphic element was them placed on in the HTML and was positioned using CSS to create a master template from which all the pages would be build.  Creating the master template helps in developing as site and keep pages consistent.  Once the master template was created I could now develop the navigation.  In order to create the navigation a site map that show each page and its relationship to adjoining pages was needed. Some of the pages decided on were these:

• Home Page
• My Story
• Workshop
• Workshop Descriptions
• Registration
• Date
• Reviews
• Contact
• Site Map
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use

Because the site has under 20 pages it was build on a static rather than a dynamic platform.  A site with under 20 pages can be easily managed without a CMS.  However as the site grows it can be converted to a dynamic site that utilizes some kind of CMS.  PHP was used for the form submissions and JQuery was used  for form validation. Once all the pages were created and link through the Navigation system it was time to upload and test the site.

You can visit this site at http://www.kingdompresenters.com/ to learn more about this organization.

Need A Web Site?

Custom Web Design for Small Businesses by professional and experienced web designer and developer.

Here is what I can do for you…

• Innovative Web Design
• Graphic Design Logos
• Maintain Your Website
• Data Driven Content
• Flash Applications
• Build Shopping Carts for Ecommerce
• Custom PHP Applications and Programming
• WordPress Installation & Customization

Get an affordable, attractive great website today. Hire John Pape Web Designer For Your Web Design Solution. View my portfolio at http://portfolio.mediatunes.com

Technorati Tags: css, design process, HTML, HTML web development, jquery, Kingdom Presenters, PHP, Web Design

It does not matter how brilliant the design of your website is, if it is difficult to locate the content. In this article I will reveal some tip to help make the usability of your website better.

Typography is one of the first items that needs your attention. For large blocks of text the there should be enough line spacing. A good rule of thumb is this: when you have a long line of text the greater the line spacing should be. The next thing to consider it to make sure that the text is large enough to read. What you want to avoid is eye strain. Body copy that is 10px or less can be difficult to read increasing it to 12px is a good place to start.

Finding information on your site should be an easy task for your visitors. Let’s say you have hundreds of articles on your site. You need to make it easy for the visitor to find the article that interests them. You need to provide a feasible method to allow them to find the information with ease. This can be done with a glossary or an index. These can then be subdivided in to different categories. Add to this an online search feature and you will make your site even more usable.

One thing that make a site difficult to use is one that loads slowly. A site that loads slowly can easily lose visitors. A good metrics it to make sure that your pages load within 15 seconds. We live in an impatient world. Sometimes you will need to trim out images or applications that cause your site to load slowly. The idea here is to deliver the content as quickly as possible.

The final tip I want to present is test all of your links. You do not want to disappoint your visitor by leading them down a dead end path. The link they choose could very well be the exact solution to their problem. A broken link will frustrate the visitor and may tarnish your professional image. So check all the links to make sure they go to the right destination.

Need A Web Site?

Custom Web Design for Small Businesses by professional and experienced web designer and developer.

Here is what I can do for you…

• Innovative Web Design
• Graphic Design Logos
• Maintain Your Website
• Data Driven Content
• Flash Applications
• Build Shopping Carts for Ecommerce
• Custom PHP Applications and Programming
• WordPress Installation & Customization

Get an affordable, attractive great website today. Hire Me For Your Web Design Solution. View my portfolio at http://portfolio.mediatunes.com

Technorati Tags: css, HTML web development, usability, Web Design