Archives For Opinion

The Sad State of the Online Church

Jesse Orndorff —  November 14, 2011 — 7 Comments

Make your church website better. That’s the battle cry I have been trying to shout for the last few years. It’s the reason I started blogging, it’s the reason I got into web design in the first place. Recently, I have started reviewing sites for our Best Church Websites of the Year feature and it makes me sad that the state of the online church is still really poor. I feel like giving up and focusing on other areas, but the reality is, the church must change. Not should, not think, but it must change.

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Speechless.

Jesse Orndorff —  October 6, 2011 — Leave a comment

I have no words.

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Going Through the Motions

Jesse Orndorff —  October 6, 2011 — Leave a comment

With the ebb and flow of life, I have to remind myself to slow down. To be intentional. To focus on what is important and make design decisions that are focused on one goal: delivering content to a user.

That’s what we do as web designers, we cultivate content, we invent new ways to interact with it, and we are responsible for creating a lasting impact.

Is your web design process intentional? Or are you going through the motions?

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Adobe Please Leave TypeKit Alone

Jesse Orndorff —  October 4, 2011 — Leave a comment

Adobe is buying up Typekit

It’s official. Adobe has bought one of my favorite startups – TypeKit. TypeKit is a service that allows you to legally embed web fonts on your website. It also makes sure that the fonts will render in all browsers. It’s a wonderful service! I use TypeKit for most of my web font needs and I have a few feelings about this new purchase.

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Our Refreshed Look

Jesse Orndorff —  October 3, 2011 — 1 Comment

If you have have been a visitor here over the last few years, you know that I change the design randomly to appeal to my need for a fresh look. Well, yesterday we rolled our more of a refresh than an actual re-design. I am focused on trying to bring the websites I run to be more focused, and united by a common brand.

Over the next few weeks I will be pushing out a few changes that will hopefully add more focus on what CWI is about.

I hope you enjoy! And as always please let me know how you feel in the comments!

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It’s Been Awhile.

Jesse Orndorff —  July 18, 2011 — Leave a comment

Ok. It’s been well over a month since I have posted anything. It would be an understatement to say that life has been crazy, it has been insane. My wife and I are off the mission field for two months which will give me some time to catch up on work and blogging.

Church Website Ideas isn’t going anywhere, I have some cool stuff to share with you all! Until next time.

Blessings,

Jesse

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Why Your Meetings Suck

Jesse Orndorff —  March 21, 2011 — Leave a comment

I’ll be honest, I really hate meetings. I never really knew why I hated meetings until I read Re:Work from the fine folks at 37signals. Today I wanted to share with you a few reasons why meetings can kill creativity and hurt your productivity.

Meetings are about concepts, not real work.
Meetings are giant waste of time, energy, and resources. Meetings tend to be more about abstract concepts, rather than real things. When was the last time you had a meeting that that actually got real work done? Probably not in a long time.

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Another social media app…

Jesse Orndorff —  March 14, 2011 — 2 Comments

I ran across another social community building application for your church. The Table Project is a very interesting and free application that will allow you to build an online community for your church.

I just can’t help but thinking these types of applications are moving us in a bad direction. Creating a silo for our online church community to hang out in, seems counter productive to me. If you are trying to create an online community OUTSIDE of my normal workflow, I am never going to use it. Once again, the goal should be to connect your church in a way that is natural and normal for users. And right now, that platform is Facebook.

Here’s a simple idea: why not develop a Facebook app for building church community?

Thoughts?

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Check Our New Sponsor – PushChurch Podcast

Jesse Orndorff —  March 10, 2011 — Leave a comment

At Church Website Ideas, this blog is supported by our advertisers and we love them for supporting our mission for helping kill ugly church websites. Last year, we switched over to BeaconAds, to help us find and get relevant advertisers. The important part of our vision with any ad on Church Website Ideas, is that it must be relevant. We don’t accept every ad request we get, but the ads you do see will be relevant to our vision.

That takes us to our latest sponsor, PushChurch Podcast. I just spent some time checking out their first podcast, and I am excited to see a couple of guys chatting about online church and advertising. Drop what you are doing now, and check these guys out.

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My Predictions for the Online Church in 2011

Jesse Orndorff —  January 24, 2011 — 10 Comments

Ok, I am still here and still focusing on church websites. I wanted to start off this new year by laying down my predictions for the online church in 2011. I think 2010 was a great year for the online church, lots of innovation, churches moving towards real design, and integration of social media. This year will be more of the same, but I think there will be a few standout items. Check them out after the break.

Flickr Photo Credit: just.Luc

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