Design - Fit For Purpose
Good design is a combination of aesthetics and functionality - it has to look good and work well. With intelligent use of images and layout we believe that our templates offer a good, clean aesthetic that's both visually pleasing and easy to navigate. Hopefully you'll be able to supply us with some images relevant to your group that we can use as a basis for your site's look. Colour schemes and layout are then customisable to give your site the style you were after.
What's important is that you have a website that presents good information in a clear manner, that's easy to maintain and useful to the members of the community.
In terms of functionality here's some features that a community website could need and in which of our packages you'll find them:
| Standard | Enhanced | Professional | |
| News - latest information, reports, news articles on the front page. |  |
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| Articles - stories and contributions from members, maybe the community's history. | |
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| Easy Content Management - anyone who has used Word or sent an email should be able to add new content to the website. | |
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| Calendar - a "What's On" guide to all the events and meetings of your community. | |
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| Gallery - a place to upload and view pictures. | |
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| Audio & Video - sermons, presentations, music in audio and video formats for downloading or streaming. | |
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| Shop - Ability to sell your products online. |
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A VillageLifeOnline website can contain all this functionality and covers the majority of things a community, person or small business could need. If there's other specific features that we've missed then come and talk to us and we'll go from there.
Basic Layout
Most websites boil down to a similar basic layout. It's regarded as the most versatile way of displaying information and VillageLifeOnline websites follow that basic idea. You have a header at the top, usually incorporating an image, logo and title, and then two or three columns that make up the page. The left and right columns tend to be narrower and contain things like the calender, image thumbnails, adverts for events, whereas in the middle is where you'll find the main body. Within that layout you'll have a menu that can take you to various pages on the site.
Here's your three basic layouts:
The VillageLifeOnline.co.uk website is a good example of a "2 column left" design with our left hand column displaying what are essentially adverts or key bits of information and the main body stretching all the way to the right. The menu is up above the header and the footer contains nothing at all. Simple, clean, effective. For more website design examples please visit the Examples page.