The same dedication and skill that goes into the development of commercial web sites, is used to construct even the smallest site. Whether a page is being designed for a 20 page site or a 3 page site, it still deserves the best effort I can give. You may also wish to view my commercial website design.

These web pages are done for individuals, non-profit groups or simply for centers of family information and contact. I cannot give links to some of these sites since they are private and for "members only." Often, the look and feel is very different from that of a larger business, giving a much more relaxed image. If you would like a family site but don't know how to get started, I can lay out the site and train you to update information as needed using some very simple, inexpensive tools.

Victory Chapel, McGregor, Texas, realized that young people looking for a church home use the internet to locate a church and to learn more about teachings and activities at that church. Victory Chapel wanted to let visitors to the site see that they are a church with a varied, friendly, membership.

A purchased template was used to display Victory Chapel's information. The original template did not match the colors of the church logo, so the template colors and some layout features were adjusted to personalize the site to the church's personality and current logo.

The resulting site gives Victory Chapel slide shows to highlight the work of the church and information about special programs. There is also a resource page that displays topics for thought and maintains a listing of previous articles. A simple contact form makes it easy for site visitors to contact the church for more information. Since the purchased template came with numerous page layouts, the site has room to grow as the need arises.

Site hosting is on a site with cPanel. This is important because cPanel uses an HTML editor which makes changes and additions by church members a goal more easily met using the documentation prepared specifically for their situation.

An outreach media with room to grow that can be maintained by their staff. Just what was needed by this congregation.

Church of the Visitation located in Westphalia, Texas, wanted a slight redesign of their site and they needed an arrangement that made adding pages and information more simple. Some data on the site changes weekly, so a simple means of making those changes was necessary.

The person in charge of the website wanted only the basic pages, one of each layout style, so they could use those pages to add additional pages to the site.

The new look keeps many aspects of their original site with some basic code updates. Flash elements of the site were removed and replaced with jquery slide shows. All navigation is displayed using an include file so changes to one document will be displayed on all pages of the site when pages are added to the site. Include files are also used to display areas of the site that require frequent changes such as the Upcoming Events segment.

There is also a contact form and a form to request notification when a new bulletin is placed on the site.

House Sold This site was designed to display a house for sale but it has now sold. If you would like to sell your home as soon as possible without printing flyers for passers-by to pick up, promote your house with a website and post that web address on your sign.

Although it is unlikely the website will begin to have good search engine placement before it sells, we use search terms frequently in the text to help prospective buyers find the house online.

The resulting site can have very detailed information about the house and its location, but what makes it much more desirable than a brochure is the ability to update and change the information at any time. Although this site no longer displays to the casual web surfer, I can still show the files as a demo if you think this is something you would like to do.

 

Moffat Cemetery Association, is a non-profit association that manages and maintains the historic Moffat Cemetery located in Bell County, Texas, west of Temple, Texas. The board of directors wanted a central location for the cemetery database. They also wanted to allow information access to persons doing genealogy research as well as the opportunity for site visitors to donate to their cemetery maintenance fund. There was also the need for a form to allow visitors to give additional information and upload photos.

The site template for Moffat Cemetery Association was created using a simple photo of the entrance to the cemetery. Adjustments were made to the photo to allow the name of the cemetery better display. The pages in the site were created to meet their needs, yet limit cost when possible.

Steve Stephens has many hand drawn maps of the cemetery which gave plot locations and other information. These maps were redrawn to give better internet display with special attention to maintain the original mapping details.

The ACCESS databases were converted to MySQL to allow online editing without the cost of webmaster-created forms. The board members were trained in using PHP My Admin to update their records.

"We really appreciate all you have done. . . . So, expect to hear from us occasionally [concerning updates.]"

The Blue Knights could no longer update their site as they needed to do in order to keep their members informed. The original site was also several years old and was slightly dated looking. However, being a non-profit group their budget for website development were very limited.

We decided that a team effort was needed to give the Blue Knights the site they needed at a price they could afford. Instead of creating a calendar, message board, and photo album for the site, we decided to continue using the off-site versions that were working well for them. That left only three pages that needed reworking.

To further limit cost, I created the template for these pages and pasted their old content. All updating of that content was done by Blue Knight members using the host server's HTML editor. To make this possible, I created a document to explain the layout of the site, the use of styles and includes as well as some web design guidelines. Web sites giving basic HTML information were also shared with the members.

Now the Blue Knights have a site which they feel serves their group well at a price they could afford.