Tonight we learned about websites. I got a chance to try to make one of my own using google site and weebly.com. I found them a bit challenging to create but was able to navigate through fairly well on my own. I feel good about the fact that I am becoming more comfortable working in these new programs.
Don Woodward came to share about designing websites. He had an excellent powerpoint that he used to demonstrate poor and high quality websites. I learned so much by looking at his weak and strong examples. He gave an excellent presentation that helped us see what needs to be considered when creating a website.
He reminded us to focus on Tips for Effective Communication:
- Prioritize
- Determine what visitors MUST find out at the site
- Keep it simple
- Keep it relevant to your target audience
- Make the message impossible to miss
- Effective use of typography
Don also introduced us to several really interesting websites and I have chosen to list a few here. They are:http://www.skillsone.com/ and http://www.hillmancurtis.com/ and http://www.secondstory.com/ We viewed them for their arrangement and also the information we can learn from them.
Don also took the time to include each of our website pages in his presentation. We were able to see what our school district's have done well in creating our websites, and what we might do to improve it. He gave me some great ideas about what to do to improve our page and I want to talk with our IT to see if the suggestions he made can be implemented. A huge improvement would be to limit the words and information on the front page and to include more visual images of our beautiful school, both inside and out. This was a really helpful session and I want to speak with staff about making some adjustments to their pages based on the information I learned tonight.
An excellent overview of what you got out of Don's presentation. I'll be anxious to hear what your IT dept thinks of his suggestions for your site.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy you are trying out the site building tools available on the web. Over time, it will become easier to do, and you will more than likely want to use a more sophisticated tool for this.