The number of Christians in the Middle East is rapidly dwindling. This reality is due to a number of causes. In Palestine alone, Christians make up barely 2 percent of the population. The same is more or less true in other Middle Eastern countries, with the exception of Lebanon. Even though the percentage of Christians is greater than in Palestine, even in Lebanon, the numbers are shrinking. In response to this reality, a web forum has been created for communication among Middle Eastern Christians - Wusul.

As one enters this website, many things are immediately apparent: it is a less-than-extensive site that has minimal menu structure, thus making the journey through it very straightforward. No elaborate sub-menus distract from the content. The top menu consists of four main topics, My Wusul, Contacts, Communities, and a selective Home, depending on the language chosen from a tri-lingual list of Arabic, English, and Spanish. The main page is further highlighted by distinct sections: Featured Members, Most Active Communities, Latest News, Videos, Articles, and Events, followed by a bottom section for the necessary About Wusul, Contact Us, and a welcome Help feature, which opens a separate FAQ window that contains various instructions on how to participate in the forum.

The home page is divided into two distinct columns: the left offers details about the sections, and the right draws attention to events and ads through picture shortcuts. The content of the main page comprises relevant up-to-date materials in both legible English texts and the slightly less-legible Arabic texts - largely due to the way Arabic texts are displayed in web browsers.

The Latest News section focuses on current events in the Middle East, which obviously refers to a synopsis of up-to-date information concerning Christians. The Latest Videos section contains links to YouTube content on the major issues that affect the Christian community in the region. The Latest Articles delve into detailed articles of concern to the community, and the Latest Events section highlights events taking place in Palestine and elsewhere.

Overall, the visitor will find a pleasant front page with textual and pictorial elements that depict the life of the Christian community in Palestine. The site is clearly of interest to a regional audience. On a slow link - anything below a 256 Kbps internet connection - one has to wait a long time for the elements of the pages to appear; however, it is somewhat justified given the amount of content that such a site typically handles. The site appears to have been put together hastily, and content is added regularly as events and articles unfold. The designers would do well, though, to put more thought into the design of long web pages, especially those that are heavy on content. A proper guided-navigation system should be devised to handle all the information.

This site is well worth a visit but, in fact, one could obtain all this information about Christian publications elsewhere, provided that one has the time to do the research. The site should be developed into an interactive site in order to attract more regular visitors.

Gabriel Batato, IT Specialist
Mr. Batato can be reached at
gbatato@yahoo.com.