Web Catholic Blog : Now It’s Your Turn

Last month I mentioned all of the changes that keep happening as we all try to use the Internet for evangelization. These are the “wonderful things” that Vatican II’s Inter Mirifica document on social communications, back in the 1960’s, could scarcely have envisioned.

I recently interviewed the technical director of the Vatican Web sites, Judith Zoebelein, F.S.E., for  American Catholic Radio (www.FranciscanRadio.org). She concurred that the Church has kept responding to new ways to evangelize—the Vatican Web site (www.Vatican.va) enjoys enormous traffic, especially when there is a crisis in the world, she said. People want to be comforted, to know that the Church is there, watching and being with people. I share Sister Judith’s dream for the future of the Church on the Web: finding ways to help parishes everywhere use the Web to extend their reach, especially to those who have come of age during this Internet revolution.

That said, we’re starting our Web Catholic Blog right now, with this issue of Web Catholic (You’re here!). On it you’ll find a repeat of each column (we’ll still send them out by e-mail). You’ll also find the “Site of the Month” and “Worth-a-Click,” conducted by Assistant Webmaster Amanda Barton, compiled together from month to month, starting with this month, to help spur your ideas. (Our Webmaster, Dave Rudemiller, is hard at work behind the scenes!) But what’s really new is that we’ll provide a place FOR YOU, THE WEBMASTERS OF CATHOLIC SITES, to share ideas. It’s an experiment—let’s jump in together and see how it goes. Blogs take many shapes and forms—this one, we hope, will become a running list of comments and ideas from webmasters everywhere. Take a look and post an entry!

Also, many of you have seen your sites recognized as “Web picks” over the years—sites to show off great ideas with. We’d like to announce a new competition, the “Web Catholic Parish Site of the Year.” We’ll be announcing categories, a timeline and how to enter this new Web Catholic contest in next month’s issue.  Meanwhile, feel free to post your ideas (and sites) at the Web Catholic Blog!

Comments

[Lisa M. Hendey]

Thanks for this great new resource! Along with being the webmaster of CatholicMom.com, I am also the webmaster for my parish site at http://www.stanthonyfresno.org
I'm always on the lookout for new ideas and I have learned so much by visiting the sites you recommend. I hope this turns into a great community where parish webmasters can learn and share ideas. I always struggle with making our site informative and easy to navigate. It seems that our older parishioners only read what's on the home page, so that page is always far too long.
Thanks again for a great resource! I have subscribed and will be back often to visit!

[Patrick Bateman]

I just received the email from webcatholic.org today, and I'm very pleased to have another resource (and hopefully, a new community) to share ideas. I'm currently webmaster of our parish site - http://www.stroberts.org - as well as our Diocese's Pre-Cana site - http://www.pre-cana.org.

I'll definitely be checking back in on a regular basis!

[Joyce Campion]

Thank you for the opportunity to share ideas with parish webmasters. I'm looking forward to using this resource. I am the webmaster for our parish, but we are in the process of designing a new website which we hope will use technology to enhance all the programs in the parish.

I have two questions. We expect to launch the new website in conjunction with a ministry fair in September, but would like to conduct a usability test with random parishioners prior to that. Does anyone have a list of standard tasks/questions for a usability test?

Second question: If you have had experience with adding the capability of receiving credit card donations online, would you be willing to share what's involved, how it works for the parish, and any resources that might be helpful?

Thank you.

[Dave]

We use a thing called parishpay, simply register and link to it (see at http://presentationparish.org/index.htm)

I would rather not have shopping cart security requirements on my website.

[Amanda]

Joyce,

I searched for articles on site usability and testing. Here are some questions you could ask users (found at http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol7/design_no4.htm ):

Do visitors enjoy using the site? If so, they'll stay longer and read more content.

Do they understand the purpose of the site? If not, there's no compelling reason to return.

Is there any incentive to return after the first visit? Your site should try to be the ultimate authority on the Web for your topic. A site with depth and breadth encourages visitors to bookmark it and refer friends interested in the same topic.

Can they recover from errors? Usability testing is the best way to test how well your site search, site map, forms, and custom error pages function. They should all work together to guide a visitor through the site and help him get where he's going. Frustrated visitors aren't likely to return - ever.

You might also find these useful:
http://www.useit.com/
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/website-usability
http://www.webpagecontent.com/arc_archive/124/5/

Also, do a google search for "site usability" or "site usability test." You might be able to find something better!