One of the unique challenges of designing a synagogue website is that there really isn’t one typical user.
A synagogue may serve young families with preschool-aged children, teenagers and college students, adults in their 30s and 40s, empty nesters, retirees, and members well into their 80s and 90s. All of those people may use the same website — but they don’t necessarily use technology in the same ways.
Some members instinctively reach for their phones whenever they need information. They expect to register for an event, make a donation, add something to their calendar, or find service times without ever speaking to someone in the synagogue office.
Others may be more accustomed to reading a weekly email, looking through a printed bulletin, calling the synagogue office, or asking another member for information.
Of course, age doesn’t automatically determine someone’s comfort with technology. Plenty of older adults are extremely comfortable online, and plenty of younger people get frustrated by confusing websites.
But the larger challenge remains: How do you create a synagogue website that works for people with very different digital habits and levels of comfort with technology?
Good Design Should Make Technology Easier
The answer isn’t to avoid technology. It’s to make technology easier to use.
That starts with good website design.
Clear navigation, readable type, strong contrast, descriptive headings, obvious buttons, mobile-friendly layouts, and straightforward language benefit everyone — but they’re particularly important for visitors who may be less comfortable navigating websites.
If someone has to figure out that “Engage” is where the synagogue has hidden its calendar, or that a tiny icon in the corner is how you register for an event, the website is creating unnecessary barriers.
A good synagogue website shouldn’t require someone to be particularly tech savvy.
The goal should be to make the next step obvious.
Want to attend an event? Register here.
Want to make a donation? Give online.
Looking for Friday night service times? Here’s where to find them.
Technology works best when people barely have to think about the technology itself.
But Synagogues Can’t Be Afraid to Move Forward
There’s another side to this conversation.
Synagogues understandably want to accommodate their members. But sometimes that desire can lead congregations to maintain inefficient processes simply because “that’s how our members are used to doing it.”
If some members aren’t comfortable registering online, the synagogue continues taking registrations by phone.
If people are accustomed to mailing checks, online giving remains an afterthought.
If members are used to calling the office for information, staff members continue answering questions that could easily be answered by the website.
Eventually, the synagogue may find itself maintaining several different systems for accomplishing the same task—and staff members are responsible for keeping all of them running.
That can create an enormous amount of unnecessary administrative work.
At some point, synagogues need to be willing to say: This is how we’re doing it now.
That doesn’t mean abandoning members who need help. Quite the opposite.
Instead of saying:
“You can register online, call the office, email us, or mail in this form.”
A synagogue might say:
“Registration is available online. If you need assistance registering, please call the office and we’ll be happy to help.”
That may sound like a small distinction, but operationally it’s an important one.
The digital process becomes the standard process, while personal assistance remains available for people who need it.
Design for Everyone. Don’t Operate as Though Technology Doesn’t Exist.
That’s the balance synagogues need to find.
A synagogue shouldn’t build its digital strategy exclusively around its youngest or most technologically sophisticated members.
But it also shouldn’t structure its operations around the assumption that some members will never use technology.
Instead, make the technology exceptionally easy to use.
Provide assistance when someone needs it.
Then allow technology to do what it’s supposed to do: make things easier for both members and synagogue staff.
That might mean:
- Online event registration instead of registrations collected through phone calls and emails
- Online donations and payments instead of relying primarily on checks
- Web-based forms instead of PDFs that have to be printed, completed, and returned
- A searchable, mobile-friendly calendar instead of a static monthly calendar
- Automated registration and payment confirmations
- Online membership and school forms
- Livestreaming and Zoom access
- Member portals and synagogue-management platforms such as ShulCloud
- Clearly maintained service times, directions, policies, and frequently requested information
Each of these tools can reduce administrative work while giving members more immediate access to the synagogue.
The Website Doesn’t Have to Be Where the Journey Starts
It’s also important to recognize that different generations may discover synagogue information in different places.
Some members may regularly visit the synagogue website. Others may rely primarily on a weekly email newsletter. Some may see an event promoted on Facebook or Instagram. Others may hear about it from a friend.
That’s okay.
The website doesn’t necessarily have to be where every interaction begins.
Instead, it can serve as the central hub that those other communication channels lead back to.
An email can promote an upcoming program and link to the website to register. A social media post can link to the event page. A printed bulletin can include the synagogue’s website address or a QR code.
Those communication channels don’t replace the website. They work together with it.
And once someone arrives at the website, the experience should be simple enough that age or technological comfort isn’t a significant obstacle.
Increasingly, the Website Is in Your Members’ Pockets
There’s another important change in how people interact with synagogue websites: increasingly, they’re doing it on their phones.
Think about how people use the internet throughout an ordinary day. They aren’t necessarily sitting down at a desktop computer and deciding to browse a website. They’re clicking a link in an email while waiting to pick up their kids. They’re checking an address while sitting in the car. They’re looking up Friday night service times while making plans for the evening. They’re registering for an event after receiving a text from a friend. They’re making a donation after seeing an appeal in an email.
For many people, particularly younger generations, the phone isn’t a secondary way of accessing the internet. It is the internet.
That changes how synagogue websites need to be designed.
It’s no longer enough for a website to technically “work” on a phone. The mobile experience needs to be considered from the beginning.
Can someone quickly find tonight’s service time without navigating through five pages? Is the registration button easy to tap? Is the text comfortable to read without zooming? Can someone complete a form without struggling with dozens of tiny fields? Can they make a donation from their phone in a couple of minutes?
This is another place where designing for different generations can actually lead to better design for everyone.
A younger member may expect a fast, frictionless mobile experience because that’s how they interact with nearly everything else online. An older member may benefit from that exact same simplicity because the navigation is clearer, the buttons are larger, and there are fewer unnecessary steps.
Mobile design isn’t just about making a desktop website fit on a smaller screen. It’s about recognizing how people actually use the internet today.
Accessibility Matters, Too
Designing for multiple generations isn’t only about familiarity with technology.
As people age, considerations such as eyesight, dexterity, and cognitive load can become increasingly important. Tiny type, low-contrast colors, closely spaced links, complicated menus, and small tap targets can make a website unnecessarily difficult to use.
Many of the practices that make a website more accessible for older adults also make it better for everyone else.
Readable typography is better when you’re 75 — and when you’re 25 and trying to read your phone outside in bright sunlight.
Large, clearly labeled buttons help someone with limited dexterity — and a parent trying to navigate a website one-handed while holding a toddler.
Simple navigation helps someone who rarely uses websites — and someone who’s rushing to find tonight’s service time.
Accessibility and good design often turn out to be the same thing.
Digital Change Is Also Cultural Change
Sometimes the hardest part of introducing a new technology isn’t building it. It’s changing people’s habits.
Members may initially resist a new registration system or online process simply because it’s unfamiliar. Staff members may be tempted to maintain the old system alongside the new one indefinitely.
But habits change.
People who once weren’t comfortable shopping online learned to do it. People who once called restaurants now make reservations online. Banking, travel, medical appointments, entertainment, and countless other parts of everyday life have moved toward digital systems.
Synagogues don’t need to adopt every new technology simply because it exists. Technology should solve a problem or make something meaningfully easier.
But when a digital process genuinely improves the experience for members and reduces work for staff, congregations shouldn’t be afraid to encourage people to use it.
A Synagogue Website Should Meet People Where They Are — and Help Them Take the Next Step
The best synagogue websites aren’t designed for a particular generation.
They’re designed for people.
They recognize that visitors arrive with different abilities, expectations, devices, and levels of technological comfort. They remove unnecessary obstacles and make important information easy to find.
At the same time, they help congregations operate more efficiently by making digital tools a normal part of synagogue life.
The goal isn’t to force technology on people.
It’s to use technology thoughtfully—and design it well enough that as many people as possible can benefit from it.
A synagogue website should meet members where they are, without being afraid to help the congregation move forward.