Site Layout & Usability
Article I of V
by Brandon Jubar
Content Organization
When we say 'Web site layout', what we are referring to is the overall
organization of your site. How is content grouped? What does the site map look like? How
will you organize the linking and make content accessible from related content, even if
the pages fall under separate "areas" of your Parish Web site? The easiest way
to begin is by reviewing the purpose(s) of your site and the goals that have been set.
Align Web Site Layout with Purpose and Goals
When you visit virtually any Parish Web site, you will find that the layout
almost always mirrors the organizational structure of the Parish staff and programs. If
the purpose of the site is to be little more than an online brochure, with email links
which visitors can use to request further information, then this structure works fine. If
the purpose and goals of the site are loftier than that, then creating the Web site to
mirror the Parish staff and programs tends to be an inferior approach.
Functional Areas: Pros and Cons
In a Parish setting, like a Web site, there are many links between different
ministries and groups. If a person comes to Mass, they may hear about the need for choir
members. Once they join the choir, they may talk to someone who has children in the
Religious Education program, so they decide to send their children. While in the High
School Religious Ed class, their teenage daughter makes some friends who convince her to
attend Youth Group. And the 'linking' goes on.
These different functional areas (worship, music ministry, religious education,
youth ministry) are each lead by a different member of the Parish staff. It is the way any
organization optimizes itself: by having specialists, or functional leads. It only makes
sense that an accomplished musician should head-up all of the Parish's music programs. And
due to the fact that you have active parishioners in the choir, for instance, newcomers
will be guided to other things that may be of interest or beneficial to them and their
families.
Unfortunately, the Parish Web site does not have that immediate, one-on-one
interaction between the visitor and the living, breathing members of the Parish. When a
visitor enters the Music Ministry area of your site, they may have no way of knowing what
other activities or programs would be worthwhile for them to check out. Making the
assumption that people will intuitively know where to find this information, or, worse
yet, assuming that they will explore your site long enough to stumble upon it, is not a
gamble I would recommend taking. So, if you shouldn'ht simply organize your Parish Web
site to mirror your Parish org chart, what should you do?
Demographic Areas: A Parish Web Site Blueprint
It basically comes down to a difference between functional areas and true
demographics. As discussed above, the Parish looks at optimizing its resources (staff) by
organizing along functional lines. The music minister leads all of the music programs,
whether they be for adults, teens or children... for weekly, ongoing activities (choir),
or special functions (weddings, funerals). On your Parish Web site, though, you need to
consider your audience. How do you classify a visitor? If a teenager who likes to sing
comes to your Web site, do you consider them a 'musician' or a 'teenager'? Or if they are
national merit scholars and would be interested in doing volunteer work to accumulate
service hours, do you classify them as a 'volunteer'? Chances are, you basically consider
them a 'teenager'. You may use sub-classification from there, but the main category would
be 'Teen'.
Knowing that you will have a visitor classified as a 'teen', why would you have
relevant information scattered across multiple functional areas? The Music Minister will
still be responsible for all of the music programs, but the Webmaster should organize the
content of the Web site to best serve the visitor. The Parish Web site should not exist
for the aggrandizement of the Parish Staff. Unless Youth Ministry is the only program
which allows teens to participate, then I believe it should not be a main topic area.
Besides, the concept of 'youth' may be interpreted differently by different people,
depending upon their background and experience. Why not have an area of your Parish Web
site called "For Teens only..."? This area could store virtually all of the
content relevant to that particular age group... regardless of whether it belongs,
functionally, to Music Ministry, Youth Ministry, Outreach or Religious Ed. |
