For those unfamiliar with “Godly Creative People](http://godlycreatives.com, it is a community site I’ve been working with for almost a year now. I’ve recently moved it to a new address and restructured the site from scratch using “Wordpress](http://wordpress.org this time instead of “Drupal](http://drupal.org. I enjoyed getting to know Drupal and might still recommend it for certain projects, but for the direction I had hoped GCP would take, my experience was limited in working with the platform, so I decided to change to Wordpress in order to make better use of its functionality.
The group is basically a community of creative professionals (and aspiring pros) who have come together to learn from and mentor one another in the purpose of using God’s gifts for His purposes. We’ve had about 100 users sign up in the past year with the old site, but already about 25 with the new site pre-launch!
Categories
**Designers
graphic and web designers
**Writers
published and aspiring authors
**Music
musicians, composers, etc
**Indoor/Outdoor
interior designers, tilers, masons, landscapers
**Visual Arts
drawing, painting, sculpting
**Textiles
knitting, sewing, crocheting
**Photography
photographers
**Audio/Visual
movies, radio, television, script writers
If you don’t feel you fit any of these categories, just shoot a message over via the contact form and we’ll see about adding one.
A few major additions to the site:
There’s a “forum](http://godlycreatives.com/forum so you can all talk to each other.
Article submissions are now open to all registered users on a per article basis with the option of being promoted to a regular contributor if you’re just that good. Contributors can submit articles directly through the Wordpress admin to be approved by moderators, which are our resident authors. Contributors can also be promoted to Author status over time with enough credible articles and character shown.
We have a community search engine that intuitively watches what you all search for and tailors the results to be more custom to our needs.
There will be no blogroll or aggregator. In time that may change if technology allows a simple solution to make that easier to set up. Right now it’s just too much with everything else going on.
We’re working on a podcast, filled with engaging conversation about how God has moved us creatively. We’ll probably have users be special guests on the show periodically too, so stay tuned for that.
Monthly creative motivation question to get you thinking or to inspire you.
And, there is a little more advertising because the cost of keeping the site running is not being met by donations as I had originally hoped. We do still have the donation system in place, however, and we’ll need all the help you can give, particularly for the podcast. $1 here and there would help secure a domain name, hosting, and all the other things that go along with podcasting.
So go on over, if you’re a Christian and you’re creative, this site is for you! This is your official launch notice. Don’t forget the forum too - register and introduce yourself to the rest of the crew.
reese left a comment on August 17, 2006 at 11:37 am | #
Hi Natalie,I like how, on the navigation, the hover gives you a little “description” underneth. It’s both cool and smart””I’m sure users will appreciate that.
The typography-particularly the body font-is good, too. It’s comfortable to read.
Will the photo area that current says “what inspires you?” have photos swapped out each month? The addition of imagery there gives the site a nice magazine-style feel, making people want to dig in a bit more.
The only thing that threw me for a loop was the search box. I think it’s creative, but I wonder if usability wise it will confuse people.
Anyway, all in all both the design and dissemination of content on this is beautiful. Perhaps I will think about joining :)
Natalie left a comment on August 17, 2006 at 11:41 am | #
Thanks for the feedback Reese. I hadn’t really considered the search box being inaccessible. I think most people look to the top of the page for a search function, though it might blend too much with the header and people could miss it. I’ll have to keep an eye on that and see how people do with it.
Larry Tomlinson left a comment on August 17, 2006 at 1:12 pm | #
It may just be me, but are the “Recent Articles” articles on the front page supposed to be cut off? It kinda bugs me :)
Natalie left a comment on August 17, 2006 at 1:15 pm | #
get over it. :P
I know. I’m working on that. It’s a one woman show you know. Can you get by?
Phil Bowell left a comment on August 17, 2006 at 1:21 pm | #
I signed up based on the new design, well not solely based on it but it helped, as it made the whole thing feel so welcoming and accessible. I get the feeling I will be calling in regularly, gonna go say hello on the forums now!!
Great work once again Natalie.
Kat French left a comment on August 17, 2006 at 4:20 pm | #
It’s beautiful, Natalie. I really like the rolling grassy hills at the bottom.
Like Reese, I’m a little concerned about the KISS factor of the search box, but I figure your target audience skews a bit web-savvier than a typical site.
And FWIW, diyplanner.com has run into some problems with their drupal CMS as of late, so it’s probably smart to stick with something you have total mastery of. I’m feeling for Doug and the other monkeys at DIYP.
dandyna left a comment on August 23, 2006 at 1:20 pm | #
Hello nat, I would so love to envolve in the community! Is there a particular restriction for highly religious people. I am catholic. Love from your fellow Italian fool :)
Natalie left a comment on August 23, 2006 at 1:26 pm | #
Well, I married a catholic, so I’m not personally against that wackiness, :) although you may find yourself restricted if you’re ruled by religion alone. Seriously though, the group is pretty open to anyone, religious or not. The focus is more on creativity and how we use our talents to honor God, not so much about how religion can improve our talents, you know? God bless you, “˜fool’. ;)