website best practices

Website Best PracticesBrandon Raymo~Assistant Director MRVED

braymo@mrved.net

Purpose

● Give you a list of best practices when creating your teacher website.

● Gain a better understanding of what makes a great teacher website.

Think About

● Your own internet browsing habits.○ Do you:

■ Get frustrated when you can’t find basic information?

■ Hate scrolling forever?■ Leave a website if you can’t read the font?■ Hate “busy” sites?

● Who is your website for?○ You○ Students○ Parents○ All

● Prior● Planning● Prevents● Poor● Performance

5 P’s

Text

Don’t● ALL CAPS (stop

yelling at me!)● Too small

● Underline text that is not a link

● Rainbow Font● Lots of scrolling

● Contrasting background and text

● Misspelling wards● Usng txt spch...lol● Hard to read fonts● Changing fonts all the time

● Stretches across the whole page because you have written way too much and it doesn’t flow well with what you have above or below your bullets and there is no reason to have this much text in one line because you have created three or four sentences anyway.

http://www.luv2teachk.com/

Do

● Use an easy to read font● Narrow columns● Less is better● Hierarchy is clear

○ Heading, Subheading, Text● Background does not interfere with text

Navigation

Don’t

● Unclear● Complex● Orphan pages● Useless page titles● Inconsistent

Unclear & Complex

Orphan Pages

● Make sure every page has a way to get to another page, without using the browser back button.

Useless Page Title

● Example (Off Your Home Page)○ Links

■ Links to what? Who are they for...parents, students, both?

○ Pictures■ Are they pictures of you, your students, sports,

school events?

Inconsistent

● If your navigation links are always on the left side, don’t move them.

● Make sure your links are also a consistent color.

Do

● Be very conscious of your navigation● Be clear in page titles● Less is better● Easy to get back home● Leave a site index

Create a Written Visual

Links

Don’t

● Broken links● Inconsistent color● Too many links● Complete URL’s● Wrong link