According
to the Web Marketing Association (www.webaward.org), there are seven
criteria you should look for in a highly competent school website. Each
year the WMA names the Best School web site as part of the annual
WebAward Competition according to these criteria. The seven criteria
are as follows;
- Design
- Ease of use
- Copywriting
- Interactivity
- Use of technology
- Innovation
- Content
I
agree with all of these, but my top two concerns would be content and
clarity, i.e. ease of use. Design and ease of use are interwoven. The
design of the site needs to be instinctive and clear. Buttons should be
in obvious positions on the site, and links should be working. Most of
us naturally look for a directory or map of the site either running
across the top of the page, or in a column on the side. The site should
be aesthetically pleasing and engaging, but shouldn’t have so much
frill and fancy on it that it distracts or confuses the user. Parents,
students, and staff will be the main users, and they will want clear
directions to one specific place on the site each time they visit.
Having the site organized into these three distinct sections is an
excellent beginning point.
The WBA award was given to Wheaton College
in 2010, and the site is very appealing, although there is no option to
skip the opening graphics. The timeline layout is very easy to
navigate, and when you scroll over the pictures there’s a handy little
bubble that pops up letting you know what to expect when you click the
link.
Ohio State’s Stone Laboratory
website is entertaining and colorful, and listed on
vandelaydesign.com’s blog as one of the top 25 websites for schools.
The navigation buttons are at the top of the page, as expected, but the
space between the nav and the body of the site is unreasonably long.
The body of the site contains many more links to pertinent or
entertaining information.
Both of these sites are easy to navigate, and contain the necessary information. Our own school website,
is an extension of the district website. It’s a bare bones site with
most of the links in the body of the site. Aesthetically it has much to
be desired, and the links need to be more definitively organized.
Students often need help navigating the site in order to find the
teacher’s pages because the info isn’t obvious enough. The site lacks
clarity, but does contain the necessary content.
