If you haven't checked it out yet... Mars Hill just officially launched their new website, yeah!!

The site was designed by Artypapers and it has the Content Management System of Markup Factory, a CMS product of Cramer Development. This is all very cool and very exciting!

Once the site was officially launched it was on CSS Beauty. If you are a computer geek, or friends with one, you know what that means. While, I had been told to not pay much attention to their comments, I just can't help but.

Now, I know any issues in Firefox, IE, or Safari are still getting worked on and I am fine with those comments, it is it's first launch. I looked at Mint and I don't think they are similar but maybe I am missing something. I also don't know what the logo comment is all about since we have had the same logo for years? But I'd have to ask someone who they are referring to.

One comment I found interesting was the comment that it doesn't look like a church website? Which at first I didn't understand but then I figured it out...

What is odd, is that our church website is not all lovey/dovey touchy/feely... our church website is there to get things done.

You want to know who is using the church Tuesday night, bam!
You want to hear the latest podcast, bam!
You want to get the church cleaning schedule to make sure you don't forget, bam!
You want to confirm the next service project, bam!
You want to get the prayer list for your prayer group, bam!

(If I could, imagine all those "bams" as if they were from an episode of Batman, :)!)

Now, I know my criticism of the site is slighty biased, which I can accept. At the same time, I do think it is a wonderfully designed site and very useful, and that I would say without nepotism.  I really love how bright and fresh it looks, I love incorporating Tony's booklet into the front page, and I really love the usefullness, which I think our church is on the move so we need a site not only to inform but in reality, to help us stay organized and on mission in our city.

There are lots of wonderfully designed, useful church websites out there, some are dark, some are taupe, some gray, some rough edged, so I am not saying ours is the end all be all by any means... I am very excited about it and proud of all of those who worked on it, tirelessly, in rare spare time, to make it happen over the last 6 months. Way to go guys and girl!

I also understand taking criticism well and I am glad for any comments you or anyone else have. Though, at this point, we won't be making any big design changes for a while, if you notice a typo or crazy error, etc, let me know and I will get it in the hands of those who can fix it! :)!