Making Your Website Work NJAET October 13, 2009 How many of you update your website once a day? once a week? once every two weeks? once a month? September? What if I told you, there are lots of schools that update their site at least twice a day? 10-15 times a day? 50 times a day? 70 times a day? 125 times a day? I'm going to show you how you can do this, with less work that you're putting into your website now. Liz Niederberger Zumu Software

Overview One place to find all information What should be on your site? How to organize your site? What works for site navigation? Web 2.0 Google tools and gadgets. Website Look - were' going to talk about navigation, information, good and bad design features. Website Structure - things that every school needs Announcement Boards Calendars Photo Galleries Teacher Pages, etc. ideas and possiblities Content and control. April will present.

What Should Be On Your Site? Main School Information (Addresses, Phone Numbers, Principals, Administration, Board Stuff) Links for Students (Study Island, On-line Text Books, Homework, etc.) Links for Teachers (Lesson Plans, Grade Books, Meeting Information, Weekly Schedules, etc.) Links for Parents (Grade Books, Teacher Contact Information, Homework, etc.) Special Announcements and Upcoming Events Wide Range of Content Navigation typically consists of navigation bars (across the page) and side bars (on the side, both right and left sides may be used) Basic information includes: school names and addresses, district information, school board information, phone numbers, directions. Newest information and announcements on the first page. Design consistency. Every page should have similar design. Consistency makes navigation easier. Color. Harsh color are hard to look at for long. If you want return visitors, spend some time revieiw your site, you may want to tone down school colors. Movement. Blinking things should stop eventully. They become very annoying when their on every page, or you have a lot of information on the page. Use it very sparingly.

Wide Range of Content Calendars Teacher Pages Curriculum Guides Photos Student Handbooks Staff Listings Forms Contact Information Agendas Notices Student Projects Job Postings Teacher Pages Lunch Calendars Snow Pages Announcement Boards Sports Info Directions Surveys Board Information Lesson Plans Newsletters Bus Schedules

Up-to-Date Snow Pages Current Events - Sports Results, Science Fairs, Visitors to the School Awards - students, school, teachers, etc. H1N1 Information and Planning

How to organize your site? If a website is difficult to use, people leave. If users get lost on a website, they leave. If a website's information is hard to read or doesn't answer users' key questions, they leave. Statistics - Check to see what’s used most View when users leave the site.

What works for site navigation? Consistent Navigation Navigation Bars Drop-Downs and Pop Outs Double Navigation Bars Side Bars Quick Links Calendar Information - Upcoming Events

Consistent Navigation If users get lost on a website, they leave! Similar Navigation School to School Similar Sidebar and Topbar Navigation Similar Levels of Content Easy to get back to main pages.

How To Figure Out Navigation? People love a design when they know the features and can immediately locate the ones they need. That is, they love a familiar design. Look at other sites. Outline - Just like High School Create a paper layout

Web 2.0 Blogs, Wikis, TeacherTube Social Networking Ning http://taffee.edublogs.org/2009/02/12/social-networking-guidelines-for-school-employees/ http://jennamcwilliams.blogspot.com/2009/06/on-social-networking-guidelines-for.html Ning Lifecycle of Electronic Musings Developing Area - Keep up-to-date

Google Gadgets & Other Free Stuff If you can add HTML to you page, you can add a gadget TeacherTube, Video Clip, etc. can easily be embedded into your pages Teachers can add interesting apps to keep kids coming back Incorporate directions, maps, quotes, as needed throughout your site.

Important! No matter what your website looks like, if you don’t have fresh, new, up-to-date content; no one will look at it! If you keep things current, people will use your site; no matter how it looks.

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