February 2006

This monthly column features some of the best internet resources for ministries around. If you'd like to contribute a favorite resource, we'd like to include it! Let's get started...

Top Links:

Gospelcom.net
If you're looking for resources, this should be one of your first stops. They've gathered over 300 online Christian ministries, and when you browse around you're bound to find something you can use. They don't just accept anyone into their community...you must apply and be approved, so this is one of those 'cream of the crop' sites. One example: CityVoices.

Census data for your area
Too much information is usually better than too little. If you need some demographic information about your area, Ethnic Harvest is one place to get it. They bring you to the US Census Bureau's site, but I thought you might also like to see some of their other resources for multicultural ministry, including links to Bibles in 140 languages, creative ministry ideas, and a special section for urban ministry.

TastyFaith's Freebies
Ginger Sinsbaugh MacDonald provides regular freebie lessons for urban youth. Her guide to Christianese is an instant classic, and she divides her resources between teens and kids.

Devotionals:

The Bible in a year
Bible Pathways provides quick and easy access to daily devotionals...if you stick with it for an entire year, you'll have read through the entire Bible. Read it online or have it delivered to your Inbox every day.

Website Faux Pas:

Faux pas: a French phrase meaning "false step" or "social blunder". It's easy to commit a website faux pas, so I'll outline one at a time to keep you out of trouble.

Giant Backgrounds
We all want our websites to look nice...and one way is to put a pretty background picture on each page. This is good, as long as you handle them right. How? Well, if you'll excuse me stealing a well-known phrase: Reduce, Resize, and Recycle.

Tip: Reduce. Background images are, by nature, large. They can take a long time to download...visitors will have to wait a bit before seeing them. To make this process quicker, "optimize" your pictures. This reduces the filesize and helps it load faster. Don't get confused: I'm not talking about making an 8.5" x 11" picture into a 4" x 6" picture. I'm talking about lowering the quality of the picture. If you don't do this, your website might not work right. For a tutorial on doing this, eHow has a pretty good one.

Tip: Resize. Now I'm talking about making an 8.5" x 11" picture into a 4" x 6" picture. The picture you're using might be larger than the space you're putting it in. If so, change the actual dimensions of the picture to fit the space. This will also reduce the file size and help it download more quickly.

Tip: Recycle. Wherever possible, use the same pictures over and over on your site. Logos, icons, and backgrounds can all be reused from page to page. For each picture that gets reused, one less picture must be downloaded. Don't skimp on the candid camera stuff...but when it comes to the rest, recycle them. Your visitors will thank you.

Free resource: If you can't afford professional-quality image programs, use Irfanview. It's an image viewer that also lets you resize and optimize photos. I've been using it for years and recommend it for everyone. Other helpful functions include the ability to make slideshows and screensavers, view entire folders of images as thumbnails, batch conversion, cropping, screen capture, and more. It plays movies and mp3s. Don't be intimidated...it's a VERY simple program to use. Check it out.

That's it for now. I'll be back next month with more information on using the internet to enhance your ministry...and, of course, let YouthPartnersNET know if you have a resource you'd like to share. Have a great day!

Tony

Tony Scialdone has been online since 1997, but he isn't a web pioneer or an innovator or a groundbreaker. He is, however, a geek. In addition to spending almost enough time with his family, Tony operates Straight Street Design, a web design and hosting company in Morrison, Colorado. He manages the YouthPartnersNET website, and recently completed the new website design for YPN.

• Visit the Top Tips Archive

Selected YPN Resources