Website Template for Student Ministry

[makinprogress412]

Hello!

Just got turned on to this site by another poor youth pastor friend of mine. I have a website for my youth ministry (but I made it). It needs some work. I made it in MS Frontpage because I could handle that. Please go to www.412student.com (http://www.412student.com) to get an idea of what we are looking to improve. I don't have a budget for this type of work so any offers will be greatly appreciated. We are in sunny South Florida and I work with preppy middle class kids who are surfers, skaters, jocks, etc. If you have further questions LMK.

Eternally Greatful,
Dave

[fusionminds.com]

I'll try and do something your website. Just give me until wednesday to pull something together. Is this all right?

- Adam

[makinprogress412]

:tup: Yes Adam. that would be great! I am on vacatoin until then anyways. I'm "working" on vacation - what's up with that? Well, anyway, thanks and I look forward to what you come up with.
David

[lang]

Hey Dave,

I'll try to squeeze some time in to make on for you - been running around like a headless chicken as of late. :)

Lang

[crimsondesigner]

I'm working on a template tonight. I should be finished with it rather soon so I'll post it tomorrow.

Erika

[crimsondesigner]

Finished sooner than I expected.This is the primary template for the site. Any secondary pages would differ slightly. The two white rounded squares on the left would be used to hold the images for rollovers for site links. Please feel free to give as much feedback on the design as possible.

Erika

[makinprogress412]

Erika,
First, thank you for your fast response. I like what I see. It's interesting that you chose a hand with 5 fingers - which there are exactly 5 areas of life we focus on in our student ministry that 1 Tim. 4:12 highlights:

1) speech
2) life
3) love
4) faith and
5) purity.

The only change I can see so far is to have each finger represent one of the five purposes of our ministry. Was there any significance in your design (explanation or thoughts that inspired the look)? Also, I'm not too familiar with web talk so when you say "The two white rounded squares on the left would be used to hold the images for rollovers for site links" - what does this mean??
Thanks,
David

[crimsondesigner]

Actually, there "isn't" a deep meaning to the use of the hand in the design. I just took my cue from the type of kids that you descirbed in your first post.

And as for this: The two white rounded squares on the left would be used to hold the images for rollovers for site links.

Well, what I meant was that when someone puts their mouse over the 'about' or 'contact' link etc., then a picture will appear in the white boxes.

Does that make sense to you or should I post the amended design showing you what I mean?

Alright, I'll make the changes tonight.

Erika

[makinprogress412]

B) Any thing else out there for me on this project. I didn't set a deadline, so I'll wait to see what comes up in the next few days. Thanks in advance.
David

[makinprogress412]

Erika,
Again, thanks for your work so far. I have a couple of thoughts thus far.

The '412' seems to be lost a little in the hand. Maybe lighten up around the numbers so they stand out a bit.

Also, have each word linked to a finger & thumb instead of the last two words linked to the pinky. does that make sense.

Omit "original since 2001" - that background on my home page was just a t-shirt design we had made to mimic an A&F shirt.

I understand the roll-overs (I had someone explain it to me more). I like the idea of a photo or logo appearing in the back box, while the front box would contain a breif description of that page. I like the idea of putting as much info on the front page and if people want to navigate deeper they can, but they can also get the gist of most everything just by using those rollovers and reading the summary in the box. does that make sense?

Last question - would the list of secondary pages along the left be static or could I edit them and add or take away or re-name if I wanted (I know sometimes they are made as graphics so that would make them static and harder to change which wouldn't be good)?

I'd like to see those minor changes and I didn't get your explanation of the meaning behind the hand - which I like, but am just curious.

Thanks again,
Dave
www.412student.com

[makinprogress412]

OOPS - if anyone went to 412students.com looking for my website, that was the wrong site. Actually, that site looks good, but not mine. Mine is 412student.com and you will agree needs some work. Thanks, and does anyone have any advice for a newby on how to get more responses. I have had 119 looks, and only one taker so far. Thanks.
David

[crimsondesigner]

I'm so sorry it took me so long to respond to this. I'll make the suggested changes tonight and post the corrected comp.

and as for this:
Last question - would the list of secondary pages along the left be static or could I edit them and add or take away or re-name if I wanted (I know sometimes they are made as graphics so that would make them static and harder to change which wouldn't be good)?

The list of secondary links can be palin text if you feel that is best for you. Alright, I'll get to work on that for you.

Erika

[crimsondesigner]

The corrected comp is attached below.
Erika

[makinprogress412]

I like it and thank you. I have two other contests going on in the logos forum for $$ I would love for you to work on Erika.

On this one, just a couple final thoughts. The lines from fingers to the red text aren't doing it for me. They just look like they don't belong. I don't know enough to say what we could do to make it obvious that each finger/thumb represents these points, but I can't get into the lines. Do you have any thoughts?

David

[makinprogress412]

Thinking a little further about this look and I'm concerned that the header might be too big. I like to be able to put as much stuff on the front page without having to go too deep to get to information. I sure would like to get some feedback on this. Thanks everyone!

[crimsondesigner]

I'll work on tweaking the template tonight. ie: shrinking the header and adding a bit more to it.
I'll also try to tie the hand into the five points encourgaed by your group.

Erika

[BrianDove]

hi,
Ill try to make a template for you :) but not before a few days :(
Tell me if i must go forward ?
Brian
:o

[makinprogress412]

Yes, Brian. I would appreciate it greatly. Thanks
David

[makinprogress412]

Any updates yet, Ericka. Not pushing, afterall, this is the charity case. I do have two $$ contest going on in the logo forum if interested. anyway, thanks for what you are doing for us here and I look forward to seeing the changes or anything you may come up with.
Thanks,
David
412student.com

[crimsondesigner]

I'm sorry I have gotten back to you but I have been swamped with work. I'll try to post something later tonight. Thanks for your patience.

Erika

[makinprogress412]

No, thank you! And thank you for your service to this site and our student ministry. It's appreciated greatly.
Peace,
Dave

[crimsondesigner]

and here it is.
Erika

[makinprogress412]

Bingo, now you're talking!!