manage your homepage

MANAGEYOUR HOMEPAGE

School Newspapers Online www.snosites.com

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

The SNO style starters look good, but they are just that — starters.

Use the FLEX tools to customize the site.

Aim for a cohesive site design and style.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

The SNO style starters look good, but they are just that — starters.

Use the FLEX tools to customize the site.

Design widgets so that they look like they all belong to the same family.

Aim for a cohesive site design and style.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Aim for a cohesive site design and style.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Aim for a cohesive site design and style.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Design a custom header graphic.A website can have a text header or an image header. A custom header graphic gives your site personality and sets the tone for the rest of the site.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Design a custom header graphic.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Design a custom header graphic.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Design a custom header graphic.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Design a custom header graphic.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

A custom header gives your site personality and sets the tone for the rest of the site.

Consider uploading a different sized custom header images to fit a variety of mobile device sizes.

Design a custom header graphic.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Design a custom header graphic.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Consider the navigation bars.You want the navigation of the site to be clear, not too complicated, and logical.

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MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

You want the navigation of the site to be clear, not too complicated, and logical.

Keep navigation bars to one line each — any more than that is getting too complicated.

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Consider the navigation bars.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Consider the navigation bars.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

You want the navigation of the site to be clear, not too complicated, and logical.

Keep navigation bars to one line each — any more than that is getting too complicated.

Don’t forget you can DESIGN the navigation bars.

Consider the navigation bars.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Consider the navigation bars.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

How to design.

Consider the navigation bars.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Avoid unplanned white space.Coordinating the homepage widgets to avoid unplanned white space gives your site a clean, attention-to-detail look and helps readers scan to the bottom of the page.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

All sorts of white space.

!Awkward.

Avoid unplanned white space.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Ahh… !

Much better.

Avoid unplanned white space.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

To really keep the homepage looking good, you’ll need to check that the homepage is still aligned after every story you post. !

BONUSTIP

Check your site.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

•Content categories •Polls •Most popular stories •Video/photo streams.

Include widgets that make sense.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

•Content categories •Polls •Most popular stories •Video/photo streams.

Include widgets that make sense.

Reconsider weather widgets — no one relies on your website for a weather report.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

•Content categories •Polls •Most popular stories •Video/photo streams.

Include widgets that make sense.

Reconsider weather widgets — no one relies on your website for a weather report.

Is your site driving traffic to your Twitter feed, or is your Twitter feed driving traffic to your site?

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Assign a story to just one category, either a parent or child.

Stories should not show up in multiple places on the homepage.

Avoid repetition on the home page.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Avoid repetition on the home page.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Assign a story to just one category, either a parent or child.

Stories should not show up in multiple places on the homepage.

Avoid repetition on the home page.

This repetition usually happens with stories in the showcase, so SNO has a setting to avoid it. Check it out on the Showcase Carousel section of the SNO Design Options page.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Avoid repetition on the home page.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Be deliberate about indicating prominence because content widgets display by date, not importance of story.

This is a good reason for a "most read" or "editors' picks" category.

Set a clear home page hierarchy.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Be deliberate about indicating prominence because content widgets display by date, not importance of story.

This is a good reason for a "most read" or "editors' picks" category.

Set a clear home page hierarchy.

There are many ways to do this: widget styles, photo sizes, layout, etc.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Set a clear home page hierarchy.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Use the showcase to really showcase.

It implies importance, not just recent posts.

Use the showcase carousel.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Use the showcase to really showcase.

It implies importance, not just recent posts.

Use the showcase carousel.

Pick the showcase that fits your site’s content.

•You can skip the carousel and use the top story display.

•You can choose a scrolling option, full size images, or image panels.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Use the showcase carousel.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Use the showcase carousel.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Use the showcase carousel.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Use the showcase carousel.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Use the showcase carousel.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Use the showcase carousel.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Select a color scheme that evokes your school but doesn’t necessarily match it.

Select a good color scheme.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Select a color scheme that evokes your school but doesn’t necessarily match it.

Select a good color scheme.

Colors for sports uniforms don’t always look good online.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Select a good color scheme.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Select a good color scheme.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

SNO design options page

Select a good color scheme.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Websites can be infinitely tall.

Vertical images stretch out the entire site and create dead space.

Use horizontal images.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Lots of empty space due to a vertical photo.

Use horizontal images.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Websites can be infinitely tall.

Vertical images stretch out the entire site and create dead space.

Use horizontal images.

Vertical images also can cause beheadings.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Faces are cropped from

photos. !

Awkward.

Use horizontal images.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

The best way to use vertical images is as a secondary image on the story page.

Use a horizontal image for the featured image and embed the vertical one on the story page.

Use horizontal images.BONUS

TIP

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

BONUS

Use horizontal images.TIP

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Featured images can be vertical, but only if you reorganized the homepage to accommodate them after each posting.

Also choose to allow vertical images on the SNO Design Options page.

Using vertical images.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

photo goes here.

Using vertical images.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Photos should be original or press release photos used with permission.

Non-original photos must be either used with permission (or under fair use) and credited appropriately.

BONUS

Don’t use illegal images.TIP

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

This little icon gives your site a professional look, even when someone is not on your site.

Design a favicon.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

This little icon gives your site a professional look, even when someone is not on your site.

Design a favicon.

Remember a favicon is tiny, so you want to make something that’s going to look good on a very small scale.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Design a favicon.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

Design a bullet point.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

photo goes here.

Design a bullet or favicon.

MANAGE YOUR HOMEPAGE

After every post you should check out how the home page looks — on multiple screen sizes.

LAST

LOOK AT YOUR SITE!TIP

QUESTIONS?Let’s hear ’em.

This presentation is available for you to use: http://www.slideshare.net/snosites

School Newspapers Online www.snosites.com