…And we’re live with a new website!
We have refreshed the look and feel of stmartininthefields.org! We are excited to share our updated website with all our members and visitors. We hope it will be the welcoming place for new people to find our church and learn about us, and that it will continue to be the place for our members to get details about what’s going on at our church.
Most churches like ours leapfrog when it comes to websites. Technology changes, and our user experience with technologies changes, too. A lot has changed online since our former website launched in June 2013! Most church websites, including ours, now have more visits from mobile platforms (smartphones and tablets) than desktop computers. And church shoppers are much more opinionated online than they used to be, passing a dated website by and moving on with hardly a look; a dated website can actually uninvite a lot of people.
A website is sort of like a living thing – it must always be adapting and changing in response to the world around it.
An overview of the new site
Our website continues to use responsive web design, so what you see works well on a phone, tablet, or desktop. Play around with it, narrow your browser window, or rotate your phone or tablet orientation, and you’ll learn that content wraps in predictable ways, automatically adjusting to the screen size.
Our homepage still features a slider, but now has one that is more visually interactive; we’re learning to use its features. Our front page content quickly connects new people and church shoppers to what they are primarily interested in.
At the bottom of our website, we use a larger footer than we had before. In the footer, on every page of the site, everyone will find ways to reach our church and school. Members will find many things they want in the footer – quick links to calendar, news, giving, and resources. Looking for a form, or something that only members need? That’s a resource, so click on Resources in the footer. Don’t want to look? Use the Search feature in the footer, or click on the magnifying glass in the header on a desktop view.
It’s easy to return to the homepage with two ways – click the church logo if it’s on the top of any page on the site, or click on the Home menu in the top navigation menu.
Our top navigation is simple, also optimized for people to get to know us. In an effort to think like a visitor, we tried to name menu items according to what people are seeking to do rather than the way people inside our church might think or talk about things.
Our Welcome is so important, so we started with it, giving our church’s warm and all-encompassing invitation. We linked much additional information there, including information about our services, what Episcopalians believe, frequently asked questions, sermons, and our history.
Worship has everything you need to know about our worship, including sermons. Serve has information on all our ministries and groups. Learn has our educational programs, Connect has ways to get involved in activities or with people. Give has many ways you can give, not just money.
Our staff page gives information about our church staff and vestry members. To see a staff member’s email address, you need to click either their photo or the Read Biography button and view their full biography. Email addresses only show up on individuals’ biography pages.
Share your membership story
We also have a new section under Connect called Meet a Member. We want to offer people who might be checking out our church a way to learn what members value about this parish. Will you share your short story and a casual photo? Contact Mary Beth Butler with those stories. You can email her at marybethbutler@gmail.com.
Learn more
We hope you’ll take some time to click around, and we encourage you to become familiar with our new layout and navigation.
Live tour
If you want a live tour, please come to Coffee Hour at noon in the school building’s small west parish hall on Sunday, May 7. Chuck Ambrose will be there to show you around, answer questions, and listen to what you have to say.
A big thanks
Thank you the the Communications Committee members for their gifts of vision, time and expertise that made this possible. In the last 6 months, Chuck Ambrose, Brooke Casey, Mary Beth Butler, Linda and Carl Snow, and Gil Kleinwechter helped with setting a vision and reaching for something fresh. Giant thanks to Chuck and Brooke who helped execute it.