We’ve been revealing our 10-step Church Website Design Process one step at a time.
We’re up to step 4: determining design of your website.
Custom Design or Pre-Made Theme
In the past, a church would first need to decide if they wanted to have a custom theme (aka template) created for their website or if they would prefer to purchase an existing theme from a theme developer.
On the one hand, a custom theme would give them complete control over all aspects of the design of their site. It would mean that their design would be completely unique. But, the downside is that creating a custom theme adds significant cost and time to the website building process, because it involves a graphic designer and a website developer (cha-ching!).
On the other hand, using a pre-made theme saves time and money, but the downside was limitations to the design quality and features.
In recent years, however, the quality, features, and flexibility built into pre-made themes have improved dramatically. In fact, themes available for purchase have become so good, we no longer offer the option to create a custom theme from scratch.
Church Website Design Options
When selecting a church website design, we start by asking the client some specific questions about design options and providing examples of each feature. This gives the client the ability to see what each feature looks like on a working website.
Some of the theme options to consider include:
- Where will your logo be displayed?
- What type of menu would you like?
- Will the menu be “sticky” and visible as visitors scroll down or not?
- Will there be a “hero” image, image slider or video at the top of your homepage?
- Will the content fill the full width of the browser or will there be margins?
Once you have had these design decisions, it is time to find a few themes that have all of the desired design features. There are quite a few companies that create WordPress themes, but we primarily use these 3 WordPress theme developers:
I will warn you in advance, the process of sifting through hundreds of themes/design options can be very time consuming, exhausting, and overwhelming.
One of the great benefits that comes with OurChurch.Com’s custom website packages is that we do all of that work for you. After discussing the design features with you, we find the designs that meet your criteria, and review them with your. All you need to do is choose.
Doesn’t get any easier than that!
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. – Steve Jobs
Interested in talking to us about your church website design? Complete the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop.)
Comment and discuss…
- What thoughts and questions do you have about choosing a theme for your church website?
Continue reading… The inside scoop on our 10 step church website design process
