Online Prayer Experience

What makes a good online experience?

I can think of a handful of sites that I have seen that I really liked the use of Flash to give a good experience. I came across the Labyrinth last fall while I was on a trip to Atlanta. The Labyrinth is a prayer experience. I had done something similar at our World Headquarters in Orlando. The idea behind it is that you have different stations in which you do something tactile that relates to a deeper spiritual experience. Like make a "yourself" in playdoh and then reflect on God's creation of you. Or experience the fragrance of sweet smelling water. It is an experience that engages the senses and the spirit.

What impressed me about the Labyrinth is how someone used Flash to create an online experience that was very powerful. Take a look at the second station. You drop a stone into water. You hear the water splash and see the splash. The use of music, narration and animation create an incredible experience online. God meant me in a very powerful way as I worked my way through the Labyrinth. It excites me to think that you can create these type of experiences online.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Last weekend I got to attend a Royals game while visiting my parents in Kansas City. I got chills when I caught the first glimpse of the field. It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood. I think I saw over 200 games at the stadium including several playoff games against the Yankees and a World Series game against the Phillies in 1980.

The highlight of the day was the chance to run the bases after the game.

Homepage and meeting goals

I found this blog entry from TotalSite.com interesting. It is called the Homepage Gauge. The author did a study of large corporations and what they are communicating on their homepage. It found it interesting how he categorized the sites based on how "focused" they were on company objectives. I found the article interesting in light of other things I am reading about content and the role of the homepage to get your readers to the content. I have been thinking through how to better do that. I like this perspective of thinking about how focused you are on your objectives. I think it is important to know why your site exists and what the goals are for it so you can measure how well you are accomplishing that goal.

Blogging Software

I started using a new blogging software yesterday, w.bloggar. You can use in conjunction with an online blogging account such as Blogger. You can save posts on your desktop which is a nice feaure because then I don't have to be online to do an entry.

The Future of the Internet

I came across a thought provoking Flash presentation this morning. It is an 8 minute presentation and it predicts the next 10 years on the Internet by looking back at the previous 10 years. My friend Keith Seabourn blogged in response to the implication for the future. I think it is important for the church to consider where our culture is heading and make sure we are ready to jump in. Some of what Keith says reminds me of what the apostle Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." Will personalized content become increasingly more important than accurate content? I already see it today and I believe it will only increase.

Inspiration

I am one who is always looking for inspiration. I am creative but I need a starting point to design. I can't just start with a blank piece of paper.

Here is a list of a couple of sites that I have been looking at for inspiration. I came across the CSS sites in the last couple of weeks. I want to move toward designing all in CSS so I thought these would be a good place to start.

• CSS Drive - I just found this site today. I like the setup a little better than CSS Vault because they classify by structure and theme.


• Cool Homepages - I found inspiration for one of my designs through this gallery. It has not inspired me much lately. The people who post seem enthralled with Flash.


• CSS Vault - This is the site that I began seeing the "weathered" or "worn" look. I have liked several of the sites that I have seen here.

I have found a couple of other sites that have galleries. Several of them have the same sites as CSS Vault. I have not checked out the other sites as much to put them in my list yet.

Worn Look

I have noticed several blogs on CSS design galleries that are using this "worn" or "weathered" look. I have an idea for a page design using this look. I wrote to one of the blog authors who is a designing and he sent me to this tutorial that helped me to get equipped on how to pull this off. I am excited to try. I also bought some "weathered" filters for Photoshop and I look forward to playing around with those when they arrive.

Browser News Site

My friend Shawn told me about a site that gives news and information about all the different Web browsers. There are also links to downloads of current and older versions of each browser. At first look, this site: upsdell.com/BrowserNews/overview.htm looks like it could be a good resource for Web designers and developers.

User Interface Conference

I am so excited. This morning I registered to go to a User Interface Conference in Boston in October. I have heard two of the speakers before at another conference. I get their weekly email tip that deals with useability and designing for user experience.

I am currently reading books by two of the speakers that will be at the October conference. I am a little bummed that I have to choose between hearing one of them for an all-day seminar. But I think because I registered early I will get the conference proceedings so I won't miss out. I also am getting an iPod mini by registering early.

The two books I am currently reading are Web ReDesign 2.0 by Kelly Goto and Content Criticalby Gerry McGovern. I think I am going to go to Gerry's seminar on information architecture.

Favorite Icons

I am sure you have seen the little icons in the address bar of websites. I have created some in the past for my websites but they did not look very good. I decided to take another crack at it and have created some for GodSquad and campuscrusadeforchrist.com. I found some articles and other resources on creating these "favicons." I even found a site where you browse to an image file on your computer and the site will generate a favicon. You then download a zip file with it and put the icon in the root folder of your site. Pretty simple.

• Favicon from picts - favicon generator that I mentioned above
• Creating a favicon in Photoshop - Runs through how to download the plugin you will need to save as an ".ico" file. Then the tutorial runs you through the process and gives some tips at creating a good favicon. I have customized my desktop by creating .ico with Photoshop.
• I did a Google search and found several resources out there.

I did find that you have to empty the cache on your browser and clean out temporary files to have the favicon show up. I also learned that in Firefox you have to double click the "paper" icon in front of your link to get it to update the favicon from the default "page" icon.

Converting Cassettes into Digital Music

I found software, Powerbit Sound Recorder, that allows me to convert my cassette tapes into digital files. I am excited because I have some one of kind recordings that I want to be able to keep. I started by recording a tape I had made when we lived in Hungary. The music is from our last meeting with the students and we sang praise music in Hungarian. My friend, Jarid, who led the singing is now with the Lord. I miss him and I still really enjoy hearing his voice.

The software comes with a 14 day unlimited trail.