We have been putting lots of effort to getting every aspect of the website right, and deliberately delayed the promotion of the website (even the current one, and the forum) to the congregation, in the hope that we will do so soon once the new website is perfected.

1. Website as merely an "online brochure", or even "a resource center", is a dead end that will merely waste the designer's efforts without the appreciation of visitors. Just think of the many perfectly designed websites and the vast amount of Christian multimedia resource centers out there. I bet most of you had not visited one in the past whole year. So why would outsiders, or even our congregation, bother with the perfectly designed NHF website?
2. Having surfed the web for a while, the only sites I return to are the ones that allows my participation and contribution. This enhances point #1: I never need to return to online brochures, and seldom the resource centers (like all our reference books, we seldom touch them.) The sites I return to are the ones that have activities. This includes
   • discussion communities
   • bookmark communities
   • not so obvious, but email and shopping sites are also activities that you "participate".
   I had not bothered much with the NHF site, until a year ago, when I realize that the forum is a tool that allows everyone to participate. (Hence I push so much for the forum, but never much about the main website.)
3. Similar to point 2, we all observe that NHF came alive 2 years ago, when situation demanded, that everyone participated in varing degrees in the church. Participation and contributions led to true community. In fact, I would go so far as to bet that the opportunities in NHF is a big part of why people stay with NHF.
4. Back to the design issues: think about the houses that we live in. do we start to live in it after all the meticulous details have been touched up, or do we live in it, and slowly modify, doing a project here and there every weekend?