Creating Your Own
Coven Website
Elizabeth Barrette
In today’s world, cyberspace provides a vital avenue of connection for most people. Members of a far-flung culture, such as Pagans, have an easier time finding each other through social networks, websites, and other routes. This creates a stronger, more cohesive Pagan community and allows us to find more people who are interested in exploring nature religions. So if you have a coven or other Pagan group, a website offers many advantages. It helps you keep track of members and events. It’s a place to archive ritual scripts and other liturgy. It provides a safe method of contact for reaching new people. Let’s take a look at how you can build a site for that.
Website Hosting
Your first choice involves hosting. Where will your site be on the Web? This affects how much it will cost, what kinds of programs and other tools you’ll be using, and many other factors.
If you have plenty of computer skills, you can build your own website. Internet service providers often include hosting space for their clients. You can customize your site to do exactly what you need, whether you are building the site from scratch or using a modular buildware package like WordPress to assemble the pieces you want. This takes more time but delivers a more precise result. However, you also have to attract traffic from scratch, which can be done by joining webrings or other promotional groups. If you don’t have the skills to design a site by yourself, you may be able to find or hire someone to help you.
For those of us who are not computer wizards, commercial website hosts offer a more user-friendly option. These include some blog hosts as well as places like Weebly. You sign up with them, they assign you some space, and you use their proprietary products to select the elements you want, such as the skin (colors and boxes in a template), illustrations, function tools (such as a search bar or donation button), and so forth. A good one will give you the chance to switch between a simple drag-and-drop menu or get into the code itself. It’s harder to customize, especially if you want things they didn’t plan for, but it’s a lot easier to use. You may also get the advantage of traffic from other people in the same host network who make topical searches to find other people’s pages.
Accessibility, Usability, and Aesthetics
Basic website design principles focus on accessibility, usability, and aesthetics. Accessibility determines how many people can see/hear what you have posted. Usability means how well your site works. Aesthetics means how the site looks.
Accessibility matters to your audience size. Some people have vision, hearing, mobility, or other limitations that make using some websites difficult or impossible. Never undercut your potential audience! You want as many people as possible to be able to use your website. So, for example, make sure the text is easy to read and has high contrast against the background, the images have text labels, and the site does not auto-play music. There are websites that not only describe how to make your site accessible but also allow you to key in your URL (Internet address) and a program will analyze how accessible it is and give recommendations for fixing any flaws.
Usability concerns how your website does its job. That means putting important things where people will see them and making the labels clear. Put the most vital content at the top and toward the left, where viewers start reading. Put less important things farther down or right. Choose clear, concise titles. Use divider bars, columns, and images to break up large blocks of text. Use cut tags or links to subpages so you can summarize basic ideas and then point people to more detailed explanations. Sort large categories (like sabbats) into smaller subcategories (like Samhain, Yule, etc.) so the main menu stays concise while the site still holds plenty of information.
Usability concerns how your website does its job. That means putting important things where people will see them and making the labels clear. Put the most vital content at the top and toward the left, where viewers start reading.
Aesthetics make your site appealing. Here you’re choosing colors, fonts, pictures, and other decorative elements. Don’t go nuts making it look fancy; that just makes it harder to use. Pick high-contrast colors that are moderate enough to avoid eyestrain. Color changes tell people what is important, like when you put the text in black and the titles in green. Aim for fonts that have some visual interest but are still simple enough to read easily. Try to find photos, illustrations, and icons with large, clear shapes that will make sense even under imperfect circumstances. Select elements that match one another. If you are working from a host’s template, much of this work is done for you. Just look for things to add that go well with it.
What to Include in Your Website
Website content is flexible. You can put pretty much anything you want on your site. So think about what your coven does and what you want people to know about it. Most covens want to post enough to help new people find them and keep current members organized—but not open the door to harassers. You may want to lock parts of your site with a password so only members can see them. Here are some things that many Pagans like to put on a coven website.
Bylaws or Charter
If you have any kind of description about your coven’s goals and rules, post at least a summary of that. It tells people a lot about who you are, what you do, and whether they would be a good fit.
Calendar of Events
This helps current members plan ahead for your sabbats, esbats, classes, and other activities. It shows potential members what you’re offering so they can think about what they’d like to attend. You should specify whether events are open to the public or for members only.
Covenstead
Most covens have one or more regular places of worship. Some are lucky enough to have a big house, yard, public building, or other facility. Start by describing that, including attractive features such as a pond, fire pit, or ritual room. If you’re concerned about privacy, use close-up pictures of your altar layout and other objects (or stock images) instead of a long view of your house.
Main Page
This is the first thing people see on your site. Give your coven’s name, your general goals and practices, and an overview of what folks can expect to find on your website. Remember, the vital content goes at the top left, then downward and rightward in descending order of importance.
Member List
Use descriptions and/or photos of your members to help people keep in touch with each other. You may list their magical interests, length of membership, contact information, and other details. Be careful: the more you include, the more trouble it can cause in the wrong hands. For this reason, member lists are often available only to other members.
Rituals
Post text and photos from some of your most successful rituals. This helps members remember why they like your coven and shows potential members what they can expect if they start attending. Mix sabbats and esbats, indoors and outdoors, and small and large events if possible. Rituals encourage new people to join your coven so they can stand in circle with you.
Site Map and Menu
These are essential navigational tools. The site map is a linked list of all the pages on your website. The menu is a bar of titles for your subpages and is usually located at the top, bottom, left side, or right side of the screen. Clicking on a title takes users to that page.
Spells
People search for spells all the time. Spells are great because people can do them at home. Along with rituals, this content helps attract visitors, who may stick around if they like your material.
Putting It Together
To create a website, first decide what you want to accomplish with it and write down some preliminary ideas. Choose a host for your site. Select or construct a template for making pages. Make the menu, putting it at the top or left side; try to use one-word titles for the tabs if possible. Add other navigation, social-networking, and infrastructure tools, such as search bars or contact boxes.
Fill in your main page. Make sure it contains all the most vital material, including a way to contact you. Use this space to summarize both your coven and the rest of your website. It needs to be catchy and informative so that people feel your site and coven are worth exploring further.
Next, make your subpages. Add text and images for each topic. Use a fractal pattern to organize them; that is, your main page leads to the subpages for your categories, and most of those categories have their own subpages. For example, Main Page: Events: Classes, Esbats, Sabbats.
Finally, add the finishing touches. Include details such as links to external websites, which help connect your site to the rest of the Web so people can find it and search engines will list it. Proofread to remove any mistakes. You really need another person to look over your draft, because they’ll see things you missed. Polish it one last time.
Publish your new coven website. Promote it through whichever social networks or other venues your members frequent. You may also want to list it on The Witches’ Voice or other Pagan hubs.
Resources
Website Accessibility
www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php
www.washington.edu/accessibility/web
www.powermapper.com/products/sortsite/checks/accessibility-checks
Website Aesthetics
www.shire.net/learnwebdesign/aesthetics.htm
http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/3-simple-design-tests-to-improve-your-aesthetics
Website Hosting
www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2424725,00.asp
www.weebly.com
Website Usability
http://drpete.co/blog/25-point-website-usability-checklist
www.usability.gov
User Viewing Patterns
http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/understanding-the-f-layout-in-web-design--webdesign-687
http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/understanding-the-z-layout-in-web-design--webdesign-28
The Witches’ Voice
www.witchvox.com
Elizabeth Barrette has been involved with the Pagan community for more than twenty-five years. She served as managing editor of PanGaia for eight years and dean of studies at the Grey School of Wizardry for four years. Her book Composing Magic: How to Create Magical Spells, Rituals, Blessings, Chants, and Prayers explains how to combine writing and spirituality. She enjoys magical crafts, historical religions, and gardening for wildlife. Visit her blog, The Wordsmith’s Forge (http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com), or her website, PenUltimate Productions (http://penultimateproductions.weebly.com). Her coven site, with extensive Pagan materials, is Greenhaven Tradition (http://greenhaventradition.weebly.com).
Illustrator: Kathleen Edwards