web design school website best practices a balance between professionalism and creativity...
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Web DesignSchool Website Best Practices
A Balance Between Professionalism and
CreativityProfessional
Who Is Your Audience?
Students
Parents
Teachers
Administrators
Community Members
What Is Your Web page Purpose
To provide information to the audience that is easy to find, timely, and relevant.
Customize and target your content to your users.
Principles of Design
Essential Question:
What are some principles that I need to consider when creating my teacher web page in order to balance my creativity with making the page look professional?
Layout and Navigation
Should have design consistency
Colors
Navigation - simple, easy-to-use, consistent
Design layout - overall look consistent
(fixed width, centered, etc.)
Maintain Consistent Formats
“Showcasing” dozens of different fonts, graphics and designs hinders performance and violates
design standards.
Maintain Smooth Gliding Formats
When thinking of design consistency:
You do not want random variation but a site that looks smooth and put together.
You will need to be careful especially if others will have pages to design on your site.
What Do Parents Want To Know
Ideas for Home Page
Upcoming Events Contact Information About the teacher
Ideas for other pages
Educational resources Electronic textbook Projects and due dates Instructional lessons
(video, powerpoint, etc) Copy of worksheet/
handouts PT Conference Forms Showcase of student’s
work
First Page Content
Should Include: Easy-to-understand navigation Site search Latest news, important information, upcoming
events Contact information - Provided in header Should: Load quickly Be contained in the first window if possible
Less Is More
Take a minimalist approach
Apply few graphics except where they contribute meaning
Do not waste bandwidth and visitor time loading pages
Distinguish between menu pages and data pages
Menu pages should help visitors move quickly to what they need.
Should be logically constructed with well ordered lists of choices where information is provided.
Be Well-Organized
Balance the number of hyperlinks with page length to minimize scrolling and display time.
Sun Microsystems did an extensive usability study and found that users do not want to scroll.
Where possible, size your pages important content to fit into the typical user’s screen.(465 pixels wide by 340 pixels high for a 15 inch monitor)
Organize Documents
Use thoughtful file-naming conventions for ease of linking.
When using the document manager, cluster all related files in groups.
May be best to hide document manager in the navigation bar and just link.
Document Manager
Provide Valuable, Timely Information
Update regularly
Periodically check links
Follow Policy
PicturesForms on a case-by-case basisNo identifying information with pictures
Student WorkRemember copyright issues-any original work is
automatically copyrighted, even if the author or artist is a 5-year-old kindergarten student. Parents must consent to displaying their child's copyrighted work.
Provide a disclaimer to protect original student work
Things to Avoid
Anything that does not contribute directly to the understanding of the site or does not impart information
Think about music, whistles, and beepsThey play unreliably across browsers and
platformsThey do not really impart information
A busy/inconsistent format
Professionalism vs. Creativity
Remember that your web page should look professional but can be more creative
Organize And Make Your Site Easy to Read
Watch The Backgrounds
Design Principles Should Be An International Language
Sources
School Websites Best Practices, Zumu Software, 1/16/08, Mike Provenzano
“Net Profit in a Post Modem World”, Jamie McKenzie,
http://www.fromnowon.org, 1/16/08
http://www.angelfire.com/super/badwebs/links.htm, 1/17/08
Creativity