Fun and games on the Internet

Revamped Web sites add appeal for Friend, New Era magazinesAs the Internet continues growing, several departments in the church find themselves adapting their methods of information dissemination in order to adjust and meet the ever-evolving needs of the members.Two such organizations currently committed to beefing up their presence on the Web are the Friend and New Era magazines. Although both monthlies originate from the 24th floor of the Church Office Building in Salt Lake City, each publication faces unique circumstances and challenges in enhancing its Web site.'To bring children closer to Christ'The Web site for the Friend, located at friend.lds.org, caters to the needs of children ages 3 through 12. It's intended to be a bastion of wholesome learning resources for not only the children but also their parents.\"There are millions of new Web sites that appear every year,\" assistant editor Chad Phares said. \"The Internet can be a method for spreading some really awful things or for spreading some really good things. That's what we're focusing on — spreading the good.\"Because of its two-tiered readership, the Friend site is comprised of two major components: one with bright colors and graphics for young children, and another for the children's parents and teachers that is designed to give adults an easier avenue to find helpful information and ideas.\"We've created two main sections to our page,\" Brother Phares said. \"We basically wanted to do two things — we wanted to give the kids a place to go to, and give parents and teachers a place where they could find what they're looking for.\"Some content, such as the oft-visited coloring pages and games sections, was created exclusively for the Friend Web site. Many other features came about by combining already existing parts. For example, the \"Matt & Mandy\" and \"For Little Friends\" sections that allow children to listen to narrated versions of the stories that appear in the magazine's print edition came into existence by joining story illustrations with the audio story narrations that had already been recorded for the benefit of the visually impaired.See the rest of this story on ldschurchnews.com.