Pope marks 500th anniversary of founding of St. Peter's Yahoo! News
Design can be a powerful thing.

Indeed, I've just had occaision to contemplate this among some small rural churches. It seems that even prosaic design and architectural components can greatly impact a faith community. A church with a "gathering area" outside the nave seems to be closer and more active than one without. The area teams with activity following the service: funds are raised through a bake sale; ears are bent for volunteers; mothers keep in touch; a discussion of the sermon takes place; youth congregate and chat.

Our national community has lost something as we've become less connected with leaders from our past. History text design is largely responsible.

I hope as you build your history animations and interactives that you take time to consider other's lessons in design and functionality. Look at as many of the examples as you can. See how each works for you as a learner, then test it with your target users. Offer a standards justification if you can.

We're doing something very exciting and challenging here. Take lessons from a 500 year old basillica, a country church built by striking coal miners, or anywhere else you can get them!