While editing The Moravian Magazine is a core part of my job, I’m also responsible for the Moravian Church in America’s denominational website. After several years of planning and designing, I’m pleased to announce that we launched a reimagined www.moravian.org this fall to offer improved functionality and a more contemporary look.
Our goal with the redesign was to make it easier to learn about the Moravian Church in America and to experience the life and work of our church online. We know that more and more people are accessing the Web from their smartphones and tablets, so the new Moravian.org uses a technique called responsive design that helps ensure it works on a wide variety of devices.
We reorganized the subject matter on the site to make it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for. The site is now organized under six headings that address the main topics visitors seek: What We Believe, How We Serve, A Bold History, Our Daily Texts, Where to Find Moravians and Moravian Resources.
We’ve also made significant improvements to the functions that help visitors find a Moravian congregation in their neighborhoods; improved our Moravian Magazine online; built a design that makes better use of our images; developed a structure that makes it easier to administer; and made a number of other changes “under the hood” that we hope users will find beneficial.
The most significant aspect of this redesign, however, was offering a single point of entry for the many parts of the Moravian Church in America. The Northern and Southern Provinces, all three Northern Province districts, the Board of Cooperative Ministries from the Southern Province and soon the Healthier Congregations Task Force from the Northern Province all have their own sections under the Moravian.org umbrella. Each group has its own editors responsible for their sections and can customize the look of their parts while maintaining a unified look and feel.
I’m interested in your thoughts and suggestions on the redesigned site. Next time you’re surfing the web, visit www.moravian.org and test it out. Try the new navigation, the new congregation locator, the online magazine and the different provincial sites. Send your observations, questions and suggestions to [email protected].
Peace,
Mike Riess, Editor, The Moravian
