Send us your ideas!

[cs.com staff]

Out site is new and still very much evolving. Please tell us what you think of the content so far and what changes or improvements you would like to see. We're also happy to answer any of your questions about the site in this forum.

Thanks,

The cs.com team

[lmhan79]

I've just started playing with the site and really have enjoyed it. It seems pretty user friendly so far. I was able to register for the discussion boards easily and watch all of the videos. I'm hoping this will not take anything away from what I think of as our virtual reading room - spirituality.com which has an established and positive presence on the web.
Thanks for the work.

[JDS]

Hi! I love the pastel colors used on this site, along with the crisp clear big photos with lots of bright sunny outdoor scenery in them. It really captures a bright and uplifting feeling! Way to go cs.com designers!! :D

[Mainefry]

Love this new design!!

Some technical feedback: I am accessing the site via remote desktop connection to THe Mother Church. The videos are quite jumpy. I will try the site later, if I can, directly from my home computer to see if it makes a difference.

[Susieee]

Hey team, looks great!! Well done and congrats!!

The one thing I've noticed so far, which is nitpicky (sorry :) ), are the page margins. I'm using firefox and the content goes right up to the edge of the left hand side and bleeds off the right, unless I have the page opened up really wide.

I don't think that would be such a big deal on regular pages, but on the discussion forums it can be frustrating to not see all of the text. Is there a way to bring in the right margin a bit in the disussion forums for those people who don't stretch their windows to full screen size?

Cheers, Susie

[TADTRIPLE3]

I love the simplicity and the color is VERY elegant!

YAY!!!!!

Your love and "having fun" working on the site, is soooo visible and it just flows from every page!!! I look forward to seeing how it devlops...and it seems to me you've already scored big!

[gserafini]

First of all, congratulations on the launch of the site. This is an excellent development and a much needed resource.

Second of all, there are multiple links to christiansciencebeta.com still active throughout the site (on homepage, multiple articles hard-linked there, etc). I am guessing that you probably already know that and are planning on fixing in the short term future so all content is correctly pointing to your main domain, but in case you didn't know, consider this a bug report.

Thanks for your good work on the site. Good job.

--
Gabriel

[fetterless]

.
BRAVO!! christianscience.com is elegant and definitely corroborates the majesty of Christian Science. It is simply ordered and its texture translucent.
Thank you for this gently designed, online community center. It radiates, "All are welcome. Come share your uplifting thoughts in an 'atmosphere of Love divine...'"

Happily,
fetterless

[captain]

Thanks for the good work!

[Courtenay]

LOVE the site! Thank you!! A wonderful resource for people who may not know much about Christian Science and could do with an easily accessible overview. I think the videos are a great idea - real live Christian Scientists describing what it actually means to them! :D

Just a suggestion for another item on the "roundtable" section where you have reprints from Your Questions and Answers in the Journal. I'd love to see the latest one in the March Journal up there too - answering the question where a long-term Christian Scientist had sought medical treatment and was dealing with guilt over it. The three respondents answered with such compassion and clarity - I really think it would be helpful for the public to read that one. It might clear up a few nasty misconceptions - e.g. Christian Scientists are shunned/kicked out of church if they have medical treatment, bound by guilt and fear never to admit that they "failed", etc. Which we know is not true at all, but it'd be great to make that clear here!

Much love from Australia,
Courtenay ;)

[livinglightly]

Hi,

this is just a little note. I was looking at a post and read the

You may not ....
You may not.....


I'm not that computer smart and thought, oh, I must have done something wrong. I took a few minutes to try to think why I was being "You may not"ed

Then it occurred to me I wasn't logged in. (I was pretty happy when it said "you may". It there a way to soften that little part abit?

[sunshine]

dear website team,

thank you! This us so helpful!
In the last years, when we invited people to our CS lecture, they often said: "O.k., but first I will find out more about CS on the Net."
And also for our upcoming booth at the health fair here in Dresden, Germany, this website is wonderful and I am impressed with the freshness, the honesty and varietry of the people sharing their experiences, and the many different types of questions that are being covered and being discussed, ongoing.

This is so helpful. It inspires me to find better answers and it certainly meets the need of so many people who are asking those questions, everywhere.

Of course, I could ask for a (translated?) german section, but right now I am sure that some of our Dresden searchers here in Germany speak enough English :-) .

In my eyes, this website does not take anything away from other sites like spirituality.com etc., but is a vital new part of the website family.
thanks again!
much love from Germany,
maylis :-)

[NYCtown]

Hi Maylis --

You might want to check out the German forum threads at www.tmcyouth.com (another site from The Mother Church). Here's the link: http://www.tmcyouth.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=27

Best,
Amy

[gwen]

Beautiful website. Thank you so much!

[CS Drummer]

I think you've all done a wonderful job on this site...very very impressive!

However, I do think the Core Beliefs section could go a little further to explain "the application of the laws of God." This could include an explanation that Christian Scientist do not believe that life is in the body and that the material picture is not reality. Therefore, we believe sin, sickness, and death to be false as well (as they conflict with the fact that God created everything as a perfect idea), and Jesus' application of this law is what led him to heal in the same way that Christian Scientists are able to heal today.

I feel that something like this would really give non-scientist visitors a better idea of what our religion is all about.

But great job on the site in general!

[jnhunsberger]

I love the site. I was sharing CS with someone recently and would have loved to shared the site with them. The FAQs have clear and understandable questions and answers, which is great for newcomers.

Also, the design of the site is straightforward and visually very strong. I really love the design. It is clean, structured well, and easy to navigate. Great job!

The only area I see that need improvement is actually with the forums. Would it be possible to keep the discussion forum area visually "branded" in a similar manner as the rest of the site? It is jarring to switch between the site and the forums and the strong sense of identity from the main website is lost when you switch over. After a while it just feels like another forum website. That said, the forum does operate very cleanly and simply, which is wonderful. Small quibbles to an otherwise wonderful job!

I look forward to sharing it with others! Thanks for publishing this!

Jason

[Starlight Rider]

I concur with the positive comments expressed so far. I really like the myth-busting features that take the mystery out of CS for non CS readers.

But I am most grateful for the forum. My favorite feature of the Internet is the ability for interactive communication, and I was greatly disappointed when Spirituality.com dropped its forums in 2005. After that I spent much less time there. On-line I like to communicate back and forth with others, not be talked to.

One concern: Does every single post on the forum really need to be screened by a moderator before it gets seen? Besides being very labor intensive, especially if the forum becomes more popular, it strikes me as a "guilty until proven innocent" attitude towards forum members. In the last 15 years I have participated in many internet forums on many subjects, and this CS site (and Spirituality.com's old forums) are the only ones I have encountered that have adopted this strange practice. It implies that the discussion isn't really an open discussion but rather a sterilized, sanitized, and censored discussion that may or may not accurately reflect the perspectives of its participants.

If you're worried that something offensive or inaccurate may creep in, I think you'll find that you can rely on forum members to do much of the policing for you (as nearly all forums do). A simple "report post" button would bring it to your attention in a timely manner without you having to read and approve every single message.

Most forums do have active moderators who read the messages every day, and make corrections when necessary. Such moderators tend to be active members of the forum community who the participants get to know and respect. Given the many options that are available and reasonably effective, pre-screening seems unnecessary and shows a lack of trust.

[Starlight Rider]

Hey team, looks great!! Well done and congrats!!

The one thing I've noticed so far, which is nitpicky (sorry :) ), are the page margins. I'm using firefox and the content goes right up to the edge of the left hand side and bleeds off the right, unless I have the page opened up really wide.

I don't think that would be such a big deal on regular pages, but on the discussion forums it can be frustrating to not see all of the text. Is there a way to bring in the right margin a bit in the disussion forums for those people who don't stretch their windows to full screen size?

Cheers, Susie

Susie, I use Firefox 5.0 at 1024x768 screen resolution and have no problems with either the forums or the main content as long as the window is maximized. If I shrink the window to smaller than full screen the forums shrink right along with it. However, the main content pages of the site do not quite fit.

Is your screen resolution set lower than 1024x768 (800x600?). Most web content these days is formatted for 1024x768 or higher screens. Or you may have an older version of Firefox and its time for an upgrade. If these solutions don't work, Firefox has an add-on that allows you to use Internet Explorer's rendering inside Firefox, which may help. Have you tried using IE to view the site and see if that makes a difference? If you need help send me a private message and I may be able to assist.

[TexasChristianScientist]

I think the staff has done a great job on design. The site communicates openness and warmth. The writing is good, too--unequivocal and clear. A suggestion I would have is to add references to specific Bible verses in the FAQs and other sections when stating that Christian Science theology is derived from Scripture so that people unfamiliar with the religion can see for themselves where Mary Baker Eddy derived her insight and inspiration.