The countdown to the start of school is getting closer. Over the last two weeks, I reviewed all the schools sites from elementary through high school. Overall, I am pleased to tell you that the state of the school web sites is much better than it was last year at this time. However, some sites still need some work. So I would like to share some of the top issues found so that they can be addressed before the start of the school year. They are listed here in no particular order.
- The Home Page is not a bulletin board
The purpose of the home page is not to list everything that is going on at school much like a Facebook page would. Rather, think of it more as a welcome page along that includes a reference to topics found on other pages in which the reference can be made in one or more ways; the banner, the calendar, the Recent News, the Principal’s message. Putting all of the details on the home page for contacts, meetings, dress code, phone numbers, and other information found on other pages of the site just makes the page cluttered and difficult for parents or the public to find what they want from one school to the next. Plus, you don’t want to make users scroll and scroll until their finger cramps to read everything they need to know by using a very long and winding home page. For a website, links to specific pages that have a single focus on each page makes it easier to find needed information, especially if there is some commonality in the page organization between school sites. - The Principal’s Message is Missing
In many of the school sites, the principal’s message to the public, parents, and students is missing entirely, replaced by information that also appears on the School Information page or other page. The public, and especially the parents, might appreciate getting to know a little more about you, the principal, to whom they entrust their children for hours every weekday. Show them how much you care about their children by bragging a little about what your school is doing, its achievements and goals, and how you plan to make it a great year for all students. - Recent News is Missing or Entered Incorrectly
Recent News was intended to cycle through news topics of things going on at the school with the older topics automatically moving off to an Archived News section which could be viewed as a separate link from the School Information dropdown. When the news section is replaced with a content portlet, that information tends to become static and stale and stays on the home page way after its relevancy and no history of news for the school is maintained. Make a commitment to this year learn how to use News and Archived News effectively. This has been discussed in on-line documents and in prior posts on this blog. You can also come to an open lab for additional help - Social Media links Have Not Been Provided
I know there are many cases where schools have active social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube), but have not given us the URLs for those sites so we can include them in the footer of every page within their site. Send those links to presence@ocps.net. - Images That Violate ADA Guidelines
As a district, we have become increasingly aware of the needs of the visually challenged community over the past year. One key area is color contrast between font and background colors. This applies throughout the site. I’ve seen some very bad color contrast choices in school calendars where web authors got carried away with using different font colors for different types of events. A quick test is to stand back from the monitor about 6-10 feet and if the text tends to blend into the background, the contrast may not be sufficient. Of course there are tools available to quantify this and have been mentioned in previous blog posts. Another is the presence of alt-text for all images that are not simply decoration. The alt-text must adequately describe the image so that if you close your eyes and simply listen to the alt-text, you get a mental image of what the physical image was about. Related to this is the error of placing, in too many cases, large amounts of text within an image that screen readers for the visually challenged cannot read. Often a better choice uses a simpler image and then links the image with a hyperlink to another page with the details in plain text. - Missing School Logos
It is almost embarrassing to say that we have over a dozen schools that still do not have their school logo in the upper left of their home page header. Send your school logo to Shayla Cannady as soon as possible. - Obsolete Content/Links
A random check of links in several sites display documents from prior years. This leads to confusion as the site viewer does not know if perhaps nothing has changed or if the document for the current year has just not been posted yet. In the case of School Supplies, this absence is critical as parents begin to prepare for the new school year. If the School Supply list says it is for 2016-17, what would you buy? - Blank Pages or Broken Links
Whether a page is blank or a link is broken, these errors leave the site visitor wondering what they are missing. Missing information may result in their calling the front office for clarification at a time when your front office is busy handling other start-of-school issues.
Some things that are absolute must haves for the start of school:
- For middle and high schools, a complete list of all extracurricular activities (athletics, clubs, organizations) for at least the first half of the year.
- For all schools, a complete calendar listing of all important events for at least the next two months. Remember to keep titles short and descriptions long and complete with locations and times.
- References to the latest policy documents, not the documents from prior years.