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By Kent Larsen
Internet: Mission Alumni, Kids, Modest Prom Dresses and Scriptures by Email
NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- New websites include a couple of well-designed
sites for alumni of missions, a promising website for kids, a
good-looking website for modest prom dresses and a personalized
scripture email service. The most surprising thing is that these
sites are all so well designed -- much better than the average Mormon
website.
The best of the two mission alumni sites is for the Uruguay
Montevideo West mission, which includes about every feature that a
mission alumni could want, and it passes on the annoying (and
questionable from a design standpoint) backgrounds found on many
alumni websites. Also clean and well-designed is ModestProm.com, a
non-commercial website to assist young women in finding modest prom
dresses or modifying dresses to make them modest. The design on this
site is good enough that you expect something for sale somewhere!
LDSKid.com is a promising website for kids that relies heavily on
flash. I expected it to be much slower than it actually is, but I
also expected a lot more content and icons that gave the user a
clearer idea of where they went, given that the site uses few written
words. It will be great to see this site when it has ten or twenty
times the amount of content currently there.
Also interesting is The Standard Works.com, a scripture-reading
service that allows tracking where you are, and reading at your own
speed. While the service offers a free 12-month trial, I hesitate to
sign up when it doesn't say how much it will cost -- I don't want to
get hooked into something that I can't afford.
Newly Listed Mormon Websites:
The Ohio Cleveland Mission
http://ohio.cleveland.mission.net
Mission alumni page that includes a mission alumni listing, notice
board and map of the mission boundaries.
LDS Kid.com
http://www.ldskid.com/
LDS site for kids. Simple design includes games, a way to send email
cards, inspirational stories, a 'Gospel in Action' section, and a
travel machine that gives youth a view of other countries. Relies
heavily on Flash, and some sections need further development and
symbols used don't always communicate clearly what they link to.
ModestProm.com
http://www.modestprom.com/
Website with information on how to buy, make or modify prom dresses
so they are modest. Site is so well-designed and cleanly-organized
you expect it to be selling something. But the site isn't selling
dresses itself, instead it links to other sites that are.
Our House
http://the_unraus.tripod.com/
LDS-themed Family website for the Unrau family. Includes web pages
for each member of the family, as well as links throughout the site
to LDS websites and documents.
Uruguay Montevideo West Mission
http://www.mission.net/uruguay/montevideo/west/
Extensive mission alumni page that includes lists of alumni and
friends, a guestbook, news, information about reunions, a message
board, links, lists of mission presidents, an email list and
information on current missionaries. A very thorough mission alumni
website.
Ten Mile River Scout Reservation LDS Regional Camp
http://scouts.asdc.net/
Straightforward site for regional scout camp for stakes in northern
New Jersey to be held the first week of July. LDS scoutmasters in
that area can use the site to register and sign-up their troops for
the camp, download documents with basic information about the camp
and get merit badge information. A well-conceived website that other
scout camps may want to emulate.
The Standard Works
http://www.thestandardworks.com
Service that helps user to read the scriptures. Sends reading
selection to user through email at the users own pace, tracking the
user's progress and allowing user to control speed and reading order.
Offers 12-month free trial. But service never indicates how much it
will cost after 12-month trial expires, and well-designed,
clean-looking website is a little slow, apparently because of use of
javascript and because of MS Internet Explorer-specific design.
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