Community, Design
25

Redesign – Your Candid Thoughts Please

Posted by John Saddington on Jan 1, 2009

It’s been a grueling “season” of redesigns lately… and I need just one more before I take a much needed 365-day break.

ChurchCrunch’s design has always iritated me.  It’s heavy.  Too heavy.  It relies on far too much scripting (post images, dynamic resizing, etc) and requires a handful of posts on the mainpage to look somewhat attractive.

My original intent was not what you see today.  So, I’m in the game for another look.

But, I’m stuck.

Not sure if I want to go full “magazine-style” or head back to the “traditional” blog look.  Typography is going to get a lot better, and focus on authors and their work as well…

But, I’m much more interested in hearing what YOU want out of this site, what features and functionalities are important to you.  This revision will be much more about YOU than ME.

So, candid thoughts desired.  Thanks!

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John Saddington

John is the Chief Editor @ The 8BIT Network and Senior Blog Junkie here at ChurchCrunch.He enjoys Triple-Tall Americanos, developing Wordpress Themes, and a few other Random Things.

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25 Responses to “Redesign – Your Candid Thoughts Please”

  1. chrisdat
    Friday, January 2, 2009 at 1:11 am

    I’m looking forward to the larger font size on the posts! Thanks for that upgrade.

    Suggestion – you support OpenID login – but then you have to double login with Intense Debate. I’m not familiar with all the security issues – but why not just skip the OpenID login, since you require an Intense Debate login. These are the steps I have to take to post a comment – Login OpenID – go to OpenID verification process – now forwarded to Intense Debate login – Login – and finally I have to go back to your site by typing in the URL, since pageback does not work. Way too much work.

    Reply
  2. David
    Friday, January 2, 2009 at 1:12 am

    I appreciate all the effort you have put into ChurchCrunch – thanks for serving churches so well!

    I too advocate staying with a magazine style. The greatest benefit for your current and future audience is the articles on technology and marketing as they benefits the church. So, most people will be best served with the site being an ongoing up-to-date information resource centre. If you could accent the "categories" more prominently, then new visitors will be able to connect more easily with past articles on specific topics. You might also consider adding a "Church Resources" section of useful tools and sites that will help churches communicate with greater excellence.

    Feel free to contact me directly if you wish to brainstorm. I am happy to help!

    Reply
    • human3rror
      Friday, January 2, 2009 at 11:56 am

      yes. i agree… more resourcing… this year dude… this year!

      Reply
  3. robsalzberg
    Friday, January 2, 2009 at 1:18 am

    I would suggest switching to the Thesis theme. Developed by Chris Pearson. Most of the top bloggers are using this theme. http://diythemes.com?a_aid=robthesistheme

    Reply
  4. Chris Chowdhury
    Friday, January 2, 2009 at 1:18 am

    I really think it has all to do with focus. How much focus do you want on the current and recent items apart from attention toward the archives? A "traditional" stream-style will keep the focus on the now items and I think this is a good thing as long as the rest is accessible. My vote is to avoid the noisy and complicated magazine layout and go with a more focus simplistic look. Then, blow us away with a new way of organizing/mining the archives. I look forward to the changes. You do amazing work and I love the content!

    Reply
    • human3rror
      Friday, January 2, 2009 at 11:56 am

      i like your idea here… i think i've got what you're looking for… more to come…

      Reply
    • human3rror
      Friday, January 2, 2009 at 11:56 am

      love your look, btw.

      Reply
      • Chris Chowdhury
        Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 12:16 pm

        Thanks! That means a ton coming from you!

        Reply
        • human3rror
          Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 12:20 pm

          dude, i so dig simplicity. that's why i hate this blog.

          Reply
  5. Scott_Fillmer
    Friday, January 2, 2009 at 1:42 am

    to me, content is far more important to me than design, but design is what is king too. I have tried several pro magazine themes myself and didn't care for them much after they went into effect, I really like the more web2.0-ish designs that work in the twitter/facebook feeds, and all in all I think CC does this well. Don't know if that helps.

    if you are looking for a fresh design, woofoo themes are pretty good

    Reply
    • human3rror
      Friday, January 2, 2009 at 11:57 am

      ;) i'm a content fanatic. yes. i also hate eyesores.

      Reply
  6. Jeff
    Friday, January 2, 2009 at 2:03 am

    I really enjoy the 'magazine' style, rather than the typical blog. And I think this concept works well with Church Crunch since you write about a variety of topics.

    Reply
    • human3rror
      Friday, January 2, 2009 at 11:58 am

      i'm only one man…! i try to "diversify"… this year… it may change.

      Reply
  7. Ancoti
    Friday, January 2, 2009 at 2:33 am

    You are getting a lot of feedback from people much more knowledgeable than me on these items. The only advice you are going to get from an old sage like me is worry more about content than the look. Formats and styles will change, and probably in an ever more rapid pace. But good content, that engages people will keep them coming back. Content never goes out of style. People will put up with a lot if the content is there.

    Reply
  8. Daniel_Berman
    Friday, January 2, 2009 at 1:52 am

    If I may make a small suggestion, keep intense debate and dump Google Friend Connect. As I have observed Google Friend Connect seems to be a Shout Box on steroids and you have to sign in somewhere else to access it. Something like Cbox might be a better alternative. Plus you already have uservoice installed. That makes three different ways to comment on this site, remember your KISS post?

    On a more positive note, you might consider adding an rss aggregator of other Tech feeds that might be usable for Churches. (Sort of like Drupal Planet?)

    Reply
    • human3rror
      Friday, January 2, 2009 at 11:57 am

      you're right. and no one uses uservoice anyways. i'm dumping that.

      Reply
  9. big_b_rad
    Friday, January 2, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    Don't shy away from the "Full Magazine" look as I think that it'd really work on this site.

    Reply
    • human3rror
      Friday, January 2, 2009 at 11:55 am

      yum.. perhaps a combination…

      Reply