The new LCMS New Jersey District website

We recently launched a redesign and re-implementation of the website for the New Jersey District of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).  They had a district convention coming up in June and they wanted to overhaul their site in preparation for that event.  The project spec had three main objectives:

• A visual redesign with a more professional look
• An easy-to-use content management system to allow the district office staff to be able to easily add and update the site content
• The ability for the district staff to continue using their existing web-based tools on the new website: Picasa photo galleries, Google calendars, Constant Contact e-newsletters, email, etc.

The original LCMS New Jersey District website

We broke the project down into four phases:

• Site re-organization and information architecture planning: The original website, after years of organic growth, had inconsistent organization of its content.  Working with the district, we planned out a new top-to-bottom re-organization of all the site pages, divided by category.  For instance, “Missions,” “Stewardship,” “LWML,” and “Conferences & Conventions” were all moved into sub-pages of “Ministries.” We also planned out the major content and interface elements of each page type: Homepage, Menu pages, Body pages, Blog pages, etc.
• Graphic design, layout, and look-and-feel: We produced several proposed mockups of a redesigned homepage layout and discussed them with the client.  Once we had the homepage visual design finalized, we used it as a basis to design the other site pages.
• Building XHTML/CSS Templates: With the look-and-feel for all the site pages planned out, we built XHTML/CSS templates for each of the major page types, ready to be implemented into a content management system.
• Implement the site on a suitable content management system: We researched various content management systems that would be powerful enough to meet the needs of the client, but still simple enough for them to be able to easily pick up and use.  In addition, due to budgetary considerations, we also wanted to use an open source solution.  We ended up selecting SilverStripe, an open-source, PHP/MySQL-based system. Daniel Bergquist handled the development and implementation of the site, converting our XHTML files into SilverStripe templates, and building in all the functionality that the site needed.  We wrote additional CSS as needed to cover all content contingencies, and corresponded with the client during the process.

The design for the site's menu pages

The design for the site's body pages

The new site launched on June 3, 2009, just in time for the district convention.  It was the biggest site that we’ve worked on yet, both in size and functionality.  It included such things as embedded Picasa photo slideshows, an embedded calendar, a dynamically updated homepage news feed, and multiple blogs with RSS feeds.  You can see the finished website here:

www.njdistrict.org