1. 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? 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

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

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

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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

10. Web 2.0 Blogs, Wikis, TeacherTube Social Networking Ning
Ning
Lifecycle of Electronic Musings
Developing Area - Keep up-to-date

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. Demo Q & A