We've helped thousands of Catholic parishes create new websites. Oftentimes, as we start the process, we ask: "How do you want people to feel when they land on your homepage?"
Undoubtedly, one word is consistently included in the response: "I want people to feel welcome here." Our new Video Mode feature is aimed at helping Catholics accomplish that goal: To create a welcoming website.
Video is a powerful way to welcome, attract, and impress your visitors.
Our newest free theme, Loyola, makes it incredibly easy to create a unique and welcoming Catholic homepage, complete with engaging video content. Did we mention it's a free theme?
Loyola, a free website design template now available in the eCatholic Design Studio, can be customized with:
Here are a few ways this new website design will help you create a unique and welcoming Catholic homepage.
Out-of-the-box, Loyola comes equipped with the ability to add a video to your homepage feature region. Instead of displaying one or more still images, you can easily add video content from YouTube, Vimeo, or your eCatholic LIVE account directly on your homepage!
With this feature, you can choose to have the video play automatically, and you can hide the video controls if you wish. Watch your beautiful new homepage come to life!
Learn more: How to add video to your homepage feature region
Loyola features a one-of-a-kind header design. With this theme, your header content (i.e., your site name or logo, main navigation items, quick links, and social media icons) elegantly floats above your homepage images (or video clips) to produce a graceful, yet modern design.
Another distinguishing element of the Loyola theme is its thumbnail image design. Compared to other themes, Loyola currently offers the largest thumbnail images (cropped to display at 154 x 154 pixels). This means that images uploaded to appear with your news items and lists of events, will be big, bold, and beautiful.
With Loyola, you can easily create an engaging, welcoming Catholic homepage that is primed to create a positive first impression with your visitors.
Log in to your eCatholic website and try Loyola. Let us know what you think, and comment below with a link to your beautiful new creation!