May 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:

Egad! Ideas
One of the oldest online youth resource sites, Egad! Ideas offers over 1500 absolutely free games and resources for your youth group. They also offer free email addresses, if you need one. It will say that you're someone@WorkWithYouth.com. That's pretty clever! Games, fundraisers, crafts, studies, and more.

Visual Reality
Kids today are surrounded by media, making audio and video an important weapon in the youth worker's arsenal. Visual Reality provides high-quality, impactful videos for youth. Take a look at the man-on-the-street video about Jesus...think about what would happen if Jay Leno asked people, "Who was Jesus?". They're not free, but they might be just what you need.

Group's Giveback
Everybody likes a freebie, right? Of course. Group Publishing is one of the premiere companies providing children and youth curriculum, books, VBS materials, etc. Each year, Group gives a portion of their proceeds away to churches. This year they're giving away a free DVD. It's Group's Ministry Makeover. It applies to children's, youth, and adult ministries and gives strategies for making things work. They're giving one away per church...so if you have a church, get one for them.

Devotionals:

The Upper Room
Upper Room Ministries has been doing good work for a number of years, and millions read their devotional every day. They offer a web-based devotional as well as an e-mail version. Check 'em out!

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.

One site, many eyes
It's not that difficult to create a website that looks good to you. It's much tougher to create a site that looks good to everyone. I'm not talking about getting style points from everyone in the world...I'm talking about browsers.

An internet browser is a program that allows you to surf the web. The most common browser is Internet Explorer, which comes with Microsoft's Windows. Other notable browsers include Firefox, Opera, Safari, Konqueror, and Lynx.

You want everyone to be able to view your website the right way, don't you? Of course you do. There's a problem, though: different browsers display the same website code in different ways! Let's pretend that you use Internet Explorer (IE) on your own computer. When you write your website, you know how it looks to other people who use IE...but what about the millions of people who use Firefox? Does your site look the same to them? Do they see a jumbled mess when they visit your website? You'll never know unless you check it out. As a web designer, I recommend testing your website by looking at it in IE, Firefox, and Opera. If you have a PC, find a friend with a Mac who can check out your site. If you're a Mac maniac, look at your site on a PC to see whether it's the same. A small variation here and there isn't a problem, but some websites will end up being broken completely!

Consider this: different visitors will see your website on different computer screens. Unless you know what you're doing, don't make your site 1000 pixels wide...a lot of visitors will have to scroll their screen sideways to read it.

Don't forget font sizes. Those with poor eyesight will often set their computers to display everything with bigger text than average. This breaks a LOT of web designs. When you make a website, change the font size (both up and down) to see how it works. IE's font sizes can be changed by using the Fonts option on the View menu.

One final thing to think about: screen readers. Some of your visitors will be blind...and search engines fall into this category. They lack the ability to read pictures. If you have a picture on your page, make sure you use the "alt text" indicators for each. If you don't know what I mean, give me a shout. I'll help you out.

The big point to remember is that a web page isn't like a poster. Posters always look the same to everyone who can see them...but the same web page can look different in hundreds of ways! Test your site with different browsers, and ask your friends to test the site when you make changes. Your visitors will enjoy the same great website experience, and your ministry will have another great tool in the toolbox.

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.

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