Designing School Home Pages

Despite the vast amount of information possible, many schools feel content to post nothing more than pictures, administration names, and several examples of student works. A well organized school web site should strive to do 3 simple things:

1) Provide users with good campus resources
2) Point users to additional information
3) Introduce non-district visitors to the school

Identifying your target audience is the most important aspect of Web page creation.   Generally, Web pages fall into 6 different catagories:

1. You and your friends - information about you and your friends.  Usually used to exchange information or discuss topics of common interest such as games or hobbies.   Generally only of interest to you and your friends..
2. You and your family - basic family information, or pages for relatives living far away.   Often referred to as 'Grandparent pages.'
3. Specific information - pages that convey information on a specific topic that may be of interest to only a small group of people.  For example, a page about your church would only be of interest to parishioners and potential members.
4. General knowledge - pages that cover a topic of interest to the general public.   For example, a page about dinosaurs would be of interest to a wide range of users.
5. Business/commercial - pages designed to sell product or service
6. Portals - such as Yahoo!, Sidewalk.com, MSN.net, etc.  These sites strive to be your homepage and lead you out onto the Web.

School Web pages fall into the specific information catagory.  When designing a school Web page, always think about your target audience. Your target audience will guide how you create your page.  Here are some questions to ask yourself before you start designing your web pages:

1. Who is your audience?
2. What information are they looking for?
3. How will they likely get to your site?
4. What kind of network connection will they likely have?
5. What kind of patience can you expect them to have?
6. What are they interested in seeing.

Think of what would be important to them. Here are just a few examples, divided into sections:

Students

: School location and layout
: Course information (topics covered, activities, etc.)
: Information about the faculty (class location, phone extension, email address, etc.)
: Course listing (class offerings and teacher, as well as possible future courses)
: Club and organization information (how to apply, activities, sponsors, etc.)
: General school information (maybe…you never know…)
: School calendar (holidays, grading periods, etc.)
: Awards and accolades won by students, faculty, and the school

Recognize that most students will probably be visiting your school page as part of an in-class assignment, or while assisting their parents in finding information.

Parents

: School location and layout
: General school information (dress code, menu, calendar, etc.)
: Administration and counselor contact information
: School history and future
: School calendar (holidays, grading periods, etc.)
: Course information (topics covered, activities, etc.)
: Grading scale and reporting periods
: Information about the faculty (class location, phone extension, email address, etc.)
: Teacher bios (years teaching, degrees conferred, etc.)
: Course listing (class offerings and teacher, as well as possible future courses)
: Club and organization information (how to apply, activities, sponsors, etc.)
: Awards and accolades won by students, faculty, and the school

Recognize that most parents will visit your page wanting to find a single piece of information. Make it as easy as possible for them to find what they are looking for, then present them with the opportunity to learn more.

Alumni

: Recent events, changes, additions, etc.
: News about classmates or faculty (including contact information on faculty)
: Ways they can be of assistance
: School calendar (in case they want to visit the campus)
: Awards and accolades won by students, faculty, and the school

Recognize that most alumni are visiting just to 'check up' on what's happening with the school, and find out if their favorite teachers are still there. This is why a faculty list is helpful.

Faculty

: Awards and accolades won by students, faculty, and the school
: School history and future
: School calendar (holidays, grading periods, etc.)
: Course information (topics covered, activities, etc.)
: Information about the faculty (class location, phone extension, email address, etc.)
: Course listing (class offerings and teacher, as well as possible future courses)
: Club and organization information (how to apply, activities, sponsors, etc.)
: Awards and accolades won by students, faculty, and the school

Truth is, many faculty members will never visit the school Web page.  Those who do will be looking for a specific piece of information, such as when the next holiday is.

Business Community

: School location and layout
: Club and organization information (work programs, sponsors)
: General school information
: School history and future
: School calendar (holidays, grading periods, etc.)
: Awards and accolades won by students, faculty, and the school
: Administration and counselor contact information
: School history and future
: Awards and accolades won by students, faculty, and the school

Recognize that many businesses are interested in future employees.  They want to know what the school is doing to provide them with workers ready to jump into a job and be successful.  A big item for businesses is school-to-work programs.

Future Residents

: School location and layout
: General school information
: School calendar (holidays, grading periods, etc.)
: Administration and counselor contact information
: Course listing (class offerings and teacher, as well as possible future courses)
: School history and future
: Course information (topics covered, activities, etc.)
: Grading scale and reporting periods
: Information about the faculty (class location, phone extension, email address, etc.)
: Teacher bios (years teaching, degree conferred, etc.)
: Club and organization information (how to apply, activities, sponsors, etc.)
: Awards and accolades won by students, faculty, and the school

Recognize that future residents may be visiting your page as part of the decision making process of relocating or buying a new home.   Your page may help convince them move into your district (or not...).

Real Estate Agents

: School location and layout
: General school information
: School calendar (holidays, grading periods, etc.)
: Awards and accolades won by students, faculty, and the school
: School history and future

Recognize that practically all real estate agents will be visiting your page looking for information to answer questions posed by potential buyers.  While this is a small number of visitors, it is important to the future growth of the district.

Other Schools

: School location and layout
: Course listing (class offerings and teacher, as well as possible future courses)
: Awards and accolades won by students, faculty, and the school
: Student population and activities

Recognize that many schools outside your district (and state) will visit your page just to 'look around.'  They want to get a feel for your campus, as well as possibly scout for teaching ideas.  Students from these far off schools are interested in what your students are doing, and may be searching for candidate campuses to participate in cooperative programs.

Of course, these are just a few of the reasons users visit your pages. There are many, many more. Remember that you won't be able to include all the information your target audience may want, but you can cover the important things. Also, always have a contact email address on every page where visitors can request additional information.

Consider User Connection Speed

Another factor that must be taken into consideration is the connection that your visitors will be using to get to your page. Users with slow connections can easily get frustrated with irrelevant or unnecessary graphics and audio clips and may want to download materials for viewing offline. Those with fast connections might prefer having more information available online. Faculty and staff will likely be using fast connections, while students, parents, and alumni may be coming in over slow connections. The safest bet is to assume that your users are connecting with a 28K modem connection. (About 10 times slower than connecting from in most districts) If you have pages that have a large number of graphics, you should warn users of this.

How Often Will You Update Your Pages?

Think about this is a realistic sense. If you will be unable to update your page often, then think about avoiding the posting of timely information. Doing so causes visitors to expect timely information and can cause them to avoid your page when they don't get it. While it is not necessary that the information you put online be timely, instant posting of information is one of the biggest advantages of the Internet.

GETTING STARTED

If you are creating a school Web page from scratch, there are 7 basic steps that you can follow to simplify the process.  Of course, this is not the only way to get started, but these steps may help jump start the process.

1. Identify the audience
   This directs the creation of the rest of the page, thus is the first and most important step.  If you don't know who your audience is, how can you post information that reaches them?  Think about this carefully because misidentification could mean that your audience is left out in the cold and is frustrated.  Your audience will no doubt have several categories (such as students, faculty, teachers, etc.).  Write each of these categories at the top of separate pieces of paper.  I'll explain why later.
2. Determine how often the page will be updated
   This may seem like a rather early time in the development process to begin thinking about how often you will be working on this page, but this is a crucial factor in determining your content.  If you plan to update the page daily then you can plan for current information.  If you are like most Webmasters and have other duties that force you to update your school page weekly (or monthly, or...you get the idea) plan only for information that will not be outdated tomorrow.  Old and outdated information is frustrating to users.
3. Determine what information you wish to convey to each target audience
   Do I want to offer the school calendar to just the students?  To the parents and students?  To just the parents?  To just the faculty?  To all of them?  Take your pieces of paper and list on each sheet what information you wish to present to each (I told you I would explain later).  Much of the information will repeat, but this is not a problem.  I'll explain why later.
4. Create a page tree
   These are also known as flowcharts or organizational charts.  Begin by drawing a box at the top of a sheet of paper and labeling it the homepage.  Draw a box under your homepage box and connect the two with a line.  This represents the links to your second level pages.  Continue drawing boxes for each page you intend to create on down the page (3rd level links off 2nd level, 4th level links off 3rd level, etc.).  For pages that will be linked to multiple second level pages, such as the school calendar, draw only one third level box for the page, but draw lines linking it to all the second level pages you wish.
5. Identify the flow
   This involves determining what order your links appear in as well as what the click words (the blue underlined text that users will be clicking to get to your upper level pages) will be.  Use a logical flow for your pages, and be sure that your click words are descriptive enough that users know where the links will take them.  Be sure that you include text links for all your graphic links for visitors who may be unaware that your picture of a trophy points to a page about awards, or for visitors that have image loading turned off.
6. Design the page layout
   I'm not going to waste a lot of typing here, because the page design suggestions are elsewhere on this page.
7. Start creating pages
   In other words, begin making the pages.  That is to say, commence building the pages.  To be more precise, fire up the page construction process.  What I'm getting at is.....OK, enough of that.

THE 6 QUESTIONS TO ANSWER BEFORE STARTING A WEB SITE

The first step in creating an effective Web site is to identify the goals for the site. Begin by asking the following questions: 

1. What is the reason for the site?
Web sites fall into 6 basic categories:  

• You and your friends – information about you and your friends.  Usually used to exchange information or discuss topics of common interest such as games or hobbies.  Generally only of interest to you and your friends (hence the name…).
• You and your family – basic family information, or pages for relatives living far away.  Often referred to as ‘Grandparent Pages.’  
• Specific information – pages that convey information on a specific topic that may be of interest to only a small group of people.  For example, a page about your church would only be of interest to parishioners and potential members. 
• General knowledge – pages that cover a topic of interest to the general public.  For example, a page about dinosaurs would be of interest to a wide range of users.  
• Business/commercial – pages designed to sell a product or service.  
• Portals - such as Yahoo!, Sidewalk.com, MSN.net, etc. These sites strive to be your homepage and lead you out onto the Web. 

Knowing what kind of site you wish to publish will guide you not only in creating the look of the page, but in gathering information as well.  Sites that are intended to convey personal or specific information do not have to follow the rules of page design so stringently (but should still be well designed), whereas general and business sites do. 

2.What information do I want to present?
When presenting information on a given topic, it is virtually impossible to cover every single aspect of that topic.  Instead, you must pick and choose items of interest from the usually vast amount of information available.  Having an idea what you want to cover in your site before you begin the page construction will help guide you as you gather information. 

3.Who is my target audience?  This is the most important issue – if you don’t know who your audience is, how you can hope to reach them? Identifying whom you wish to reach will allow you to focus your pages. For example, a page directed toward nuclear physicists would probably not be well received if it contained a large amount of animated graphics.

4.What is the best way to reach my target audience? Remember that potential viewers of your Web page can live anywhere in the world. Try to design your page for a variety of browsers and users. Keep in mind the age, education level, gender, interests, etc. of your would-be visitors. Knowing the preferences of your users will allow you to construct pages that are non-offensive and appreciated. Being familiar with your audience also ensures that you have proper usage of ‘cutesy’ design elements.

5.How can I keep my visitors interested? The only real answer to this question is to present interesting and compelling information in a concise, easy to use format. 

6.How do I keep my visitors coming back?  Remember that it is the information in your page that keeps people coming back!  Regular updates with new and useful information will ensure that you have a group of dedicated users that enjoy regular visits to your site.

THE 60 KEY ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE WEB PAGE DESIGN

Once you've thought about what information you want to include, you need to start thinking about how you want to organize it. Take some time up front to decide on a layout for your web pages. If you set the layout in advance, you can simply take one file and copy it to get the basic layout for your other pages. You can then change the content for each new page. If your page layout is very complex or includes tables, this can be a real time saver.

Some of these things may seem obvious, but it doesn't hurt to state the obvious...   The elements are divided into sections for easy reference.

(Upper-level pages include your home page and pages linked off of it; lower-level pages include pages 3 or 4 mouse clicks deep)

1. The most important thing on your page is the information!!! This point cannot be stressed enough. Visitors do not rehit your page because it has pretty pictures on it (they'll just stea…uh, borrow them), but return over and over because you give them good, updated information.
2. Put the most important information at the top of each page. When a page appears (known as the first pane), the information that shows without scrolling should be important and enticing (if it's not, why scroll?). Impatient users will not scroll without a good reason. Each page should have a good, descriptive title that displays in the title bar. This is used by many search engines, as well as being the representative text in bookmarks.
3. Don't force your users to click forever to get to the information they want. Waiting to move from page to page is very frustrating, and will cause many users to leave your site. Users should not have to click more than 3 times to get the facts they are looking for.
4. Build your page so that the first screen of text and key images appear in under 5 seconds over a 28.8 modem. Remember, Internet users are very impatient (and getting worse by the minute…).
5. Keep download time of remaining pages to 30 seconds. Many users will bolt after about 20 seconds, while others will hang around for about 25. At 30 seconds the vast majority of visitors will hit the back button.
6. Index page should require a minimum amount of scrolling, none if possible. Your home page should offer no more than 15 (give or take) categories in order to minimize the need for scrolling. Lower-level pages should avoid the need for excessive scrolling unless the page is a document. If at all possible, avoid horizontal scrolling. This is a Web page kiss of death. Pages should be no more than 480 pixels wide (this is the Netscape default page width).
7. All of your pages should be no longer than two to four screens per topic (at 640X480-screen resolution).
8. Group your information by topic in separate areas of your web site. Don't try to cover everything on one page - but don’t spread everything out so much that your users are spending all their time on your site searching for what they want.
9. Consider using a menu page. Menu pages are intended to help visitors move quickly to what they are looking for. These should contain lists of choices with sufficient descriptions to let the user know where they go, and should include links to all information being offered.
10. Navigation is a snap when link lists are always on the left (or always at the bottom, or always at the top, or always…oh, well, you get the idea…). At the very least, users should be able to get the main page from every lower-level page.
11. All pages should include a link back to the home page (except for the home page of course). Some visitors may come to your site at a lower-level page (through links from other pages or the use of some search engines). You want these visitors to be able to get additional information.
12. Include a contact email address on every page. Make it easy for your visitors to give you feedback and/or ask questions about your site.
13. Make all links clear! A common trend today is to create what I call ‘secret links’ – links on your page that are not clearly marked so that your visitors have to ‘discover’ them. All links should be obvious with good descriptions so users know exactly where they lead Links should never be more than 2 lines deep - otherwise, users think they are multiple links. When linking to Web pages on the Internet, be sure to take users directly to the information you want them to see. Avoid links to non-related upper-level or menu pages. Some pages ask that you link only to the main page, be sure to abide by their wishes. Check these links often to make sure they are still active or still point to the information you want to share.
14. Use space effectively. Putting twelve links in a row instead of in twelve vertical lines of text (and still look decent) will save space. Maintain blank space (also called white space…even when it is not actually white). The page background should show on at least 30 percent of page. This may seem like a lot, but consider what percentage of white space shows on the page in your hand right now. Any less white space and the page looks cluttered. Your background image (if any) should fit the overall theme of the page.
15. When including sound, less is always best. Never include a song as a background sound. Remember that every time users visit the page, for instance with the back button returning from a second level page, the entire song will play (again…and again…and again). Sound bites, short sounds such as a doorbell ringing, may be OK to include (but even they can grow tiring), but if you want to include an entire song be sure to give the user controls so they can turn the song off.
16. Keep file size to approximately 50 KB per page, including images (image pages, as long as you warn users about them, are excluded). If you must use larger pages, be sure to warn your users.
17. Generally, you shouldn’t use frames unless it adds to the content of your page. Remember that some people still use browsers that don’t support frames (they are in the minority, but you don’t want to leave them out, do you?). Additionally, many browsers display frames differently - not to mention the fact that many users dislike frames. Since you want your pages to be viewable by the largest number of people possible, offer a frame-free version of your page. Even if the content is watered down, it is better than nothing. Also keep in mind that frames can present problems for users who want to print out your web pages. Often times, the content of all frames will not print.
18. Indicate the company or school’s brick and mortar (physical) address. You want all users to be able to visit your site in person. Sure the Internet is great, but sometimes nothing beats face-to-face contact. At the very least, include a contact phone number.

Look of the Page

19. Maintain a consistent page flow, tone, and style. Start with a simple index-opening page and branch out from there. All text and graphics should be consistent in mood and theme. Remember that your Web page is not a good place to show off all the really cool fonts you just got installed on your computer (besides, if visitors don't have the font installed on their system they will see the default browser font, usually Times New Roman) or all the pretty colors your monitor can display, or the latest JavaScript you learned to install. Each major section should use like colors, fonts, and layouts. Inconstancy in design indicates poor planning and unprofessional design.
20. Use no more than three fonts (in graphics and text) per page. Any more is considered unprofessional. Use large enough font so that everyone can read it.
21. Keep page colors to between two and four dominant thematic colors. Avoid colors that are hard on the eyes, such as hot pink.
22. Be sure your text and background colors or images contrast each other. No color in the background should be close to the text or link colors. Avoid bright or hard to view colors. Consider avoiding text and background color combinations of red and green or green and blue. Colorblind users may have a hard time reading the text. Avoid background images that use multi-colored photographs. It is too difficult to find a font color that will not have some words or letters disappear into the image.
23. Avoid underline colored text as users will assume these words are links and will wonder why they don't go anywhere.
24. Don't change the link colors unless it helps your overall color scheme. Users are used to links being blue and visited links being purple. Don't make things hard on your users!
25. If possible, avoid dark backgrounds with light text. This setup makes it difficult to print. Users must choose between printing the background (lots of ink) or printing the text (prints lightly and is hard to read).
26. Break-up blocks of text every 50 to 100 words (except in long articles or stories) using a headline, rule, image, etc. Text blocks that are too long look cumbersome and cause few users to read them.
27. Use tables to layout your pages. Tables allow you to precisely control the look of your pages and effectively use space.
28. For greater control of page appearance, use layers.

Graphics

29. A minimalist approach is best when dealing with graphics in a Web page. Use few, small graphics, unless larger ones add significantly to the page. Large graphics slow download time and often send visitors elsewhere. Avoid backitis (clicking of the back button to escape 'frozen' pages) at all costs.
30. Repeating images helps keep download time to a minimum. Pages that use the same background image will not have to load new images for each page (images are stored in your computer's cache and accessed from there instead of being called from the server). If each page uses a different background, each change will require loading a new image, which slows everything down. This is also true for in page images, logos, and banners. If repeated, they require no additional download time.
31. Graphics should be kept to a minimum, especially on the homepage (use thumbnails). Warn of all links that lead to graphic intensive pages. Always get permission before using someone else's graphics  (include the Internet Explorer or Netscape icons only when linking to either Microsoft's or Netscape's homepage).
32. Use large images only when necessary. Crop all large images down to include only the necessary components. For example, if you have a picture of a building, crop out the 5 inches of grass in front of it and the 5 inches of sky above it.
33. Be sure to include alt text with all images. These helps users with non-image browsers, have image loading turned off, or are using special software (such as for the blind).
34. Discard images of poor quality. Retake blurry images and brighten dark or hard to see images. Poor quality images denote unprofessional work. All images should be of similar style.
35. Be sure to include HEIGHT and WIDTH attributes in your image code. This causes the browser to create a space for the image while the page loads. Users can thus read the text as the images are loading without having the page rearrange as the images come in. Luckily, most Web page editors include this for you!
36. Use the LOWSRC tag when dealing with a large image. This gives users something to look at and hold their attention while the larger image loads.
37. All graphic links should be clearly identified as links with their destination clearly identified. Don't make your users hunt around to find the links to your information.
38. Be sure that your background images are wide enough so that the images do not tile down the right side of your page. Additionally, if you are using a background picture, be sure that the page is not so long that the picture tiles at the bottom.

Advanced Graphics

39. Choose the correct format for your graphics. Graphics should always be kept as small as possible. When choosing between GIF and JPG, let the type of picture guide you. The GIF format works best for graphics that have bold colors and sharp line changes between the colors. The JPG format works best for photographs and images with gradual changes in colors (in fact, JPG stands for Joint Photographers Group).

Keep in mind that GIF graphics store only 256 colors at a time. All colors over this limit will appear dithered (created by combining several of the original 256). The result is that GIF graphics can sometimes be unpredictable. Also, the GIF format compresses image size by removing horizontal redundancy. Try not to introduce extra vertical detail or noise into GIF images. Horizontally oriented bands of color compress better than vertically oriented bands. Avoid dithered images as they make it more difficult to minimize the rows of color.

The most important thing not to forget is that the fewer the colors the smaller the image. Since browsers are only capable of displaying images to a certain depth, your beautiful multi-million-color image may appear very different to your users.

If you are really into working with graphics, here are a few tips techniques that may be of assistance in creating the smallest possible graphics files:

1. Minimize dimension and maximize crop.
2. Minimize the initial number of colors.
3. Choose your colors from a non-dithering palette.
4. When adding text to graphics, use aliased sans-serif fonts like Geneva and Chicago. Anti-aliasing increases the number of colors.
5. Use flat, horizontal areas of color: avoid gradations of color, especially large, gradual ones that are radial or horizontal, and have a large shift in hue and/or tint.
6. Use histogram influencing to optimize and minimize palettes.
7. Reduce the resolution to 72 dpi as your last step.
8. Use multiple small graphics instead of one large graphic.
9. Try first reducing to 256 colors, and then reduce again to between 8 and 32 colors.
10. Try using a monochromatic palette, differing shades of the same color.
11. Avoid dithering altogether by selecting a specific palette of 16 to 32 colors.
12. To flatten and reduce colors you can deliberately posterize your image before reducing it. This is also a good way to preview different numbers of colors.
13. For anti-aliased images that will have a transparent background, make the background similar to the background you will use on your page. This will keep a halo from showing around the edges.
14. Format your images as interlaced GIF's and Progressive JPG's. This gives the user something to look at while the image is loading.
15. Avoid using animated GIF's, except where they add significantly to your page or help to meet your target audience.

Non-professional Elements

40. Avoid shock pages, or pages over the top that are ‘just trying to get their attention.’ It never comes across that way. Instead, it looks like unprofessional design. Your web site as a whole should appear balanced and attractive (remember K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid).
41. Don’t ask users to make changes in the browser settings (for example, asking users to change things such as width, font size, font style, etc). Keep in mind that many users don’t know how to change the default fonts, as any technical support person will tell you). When faced with this, many users will simply leave.
42. Your site has won an award – congratulations, pat yourself on the back. Now take that big, usually ugly, graphic off your homepage. Few users care that you have won awards, and even less care what awards you have won. Keep in mind that Internet site awards are about as numerous as NBA playoff spots. If you insist on displaying your site’s awards, place them on a separate page with a link so that users have the option of viewing them or not. Remember that your home page is for information, not for bragging.
43. Avoid BLINK like the plague. Did you know that Netscape threw in the BLINK tag as a joke? Many Netscape users (luckily blink is not supported by Internet Explorer) find it extremely annoying and will actually leave your page simply because it is there.

Administration

44. Plan to expand. Use multiple folders to organize your information on the server so they are easy to find and work with.
45. Consider creating an image directory. It is often helpful to have all your images in one place for easy editing (not everyone agrees with this, but if it works for you then go for it).
46. Home page must contain a copyright statement covering all lower-level pages. If possible, include copyright statements on all pages. Expect that material may be taken from your page, but be sure to take steps to protect your work if someone else claims it. All material created by you (text as well as images) is covered by copyright law. If you have material that visitors can freely use be sure to clearly state this.
47. Preview, preview, preview…then preview again… Be sure you test all pages that you make. You can't be sure that visitors are viewing your page with the same browser you are (in fact, with the wide variety of different browsers and browser versions, most users will not be using the same browser as you), not to mention monitor size and resolution. Check your pages by viewing them on as many different browsers as you can get your hands on, not just in the current version of Netscape and Internet Explorer, but in previous versions as well. There are some subtle (and some vast) differences in the way the same browser displays pages on different platforms (for instance, Netscape doesn't display pages identically between the PC and Mac). Also, different browsers, even on the same platform, can display drastically different results. Get as many people as you can to view and critique your pages.

Advanced Elements

48. Let users know what you're using. If you are using special plug-ins or helper applications to display your pages, make sure you let your users know what they are and where to download them. It is very frustrating not to be able to view something. Additionally, don't make your users wait 10 minutes while something is downloaded just have them receive a message that they do not have the necessary plug-in.
49. Avoid scrolling text, whether in the status bar area or a marquee. Many people have come to rely on the status bar area of the browser to supply them with information. Also, if left to run long enough, many of these JavaScript’s will cause the browser to crash. Marquees are only seen by Internet Explorer users. Additionally, many users find them annoying.
50. Use style sheets with caution. Many people still use browsers that do not support them. This could mean that some of your viewers won’t see what you intended. Keep your target audience in mind when considering using CSS.
51. Avoid the use of Flash and other animation software, especially on splash (or introduction) pages. In fact, avoid introduction pages all together. It is redundant to create an introduction page with a lengthy 'welcome' message - obviously you are welcoming them to your page or you wouldn't have put the page up in the first place. Keep in mind that most users are impatient and want information quickly. Having to wait for a piece of Flash to finish can be aggravating.
52. Avoid forcing cookies on your users. While many users don’t mind them, and they do provide good information for the Webmaster, others view them as intrusive and potentially harmful to their systems.
53. Avoid using hit counters. These don't actually count the number of visitors to your page, but instead record the number of times the page was requested from the server (for example, when users hit the refresh button, the hit counter goes up). Also, if the server goes down the hit counter will be reset. Information on actual hits can be obtained from most ISP's.
54. Avoid using redirect pages. These are pages that cause the same page to load when a user hits the back button. If you don't know what I'm talking about, good…that means you won't be doing it. Many users are unaware of what is going on, get frustrated, get mad at you, close their browsers, and vow never to return to your site.
55. Use scripts sparingly. Avoid using scripts that create scrolling or moving menus unless they add to the page and move quickly. Slow moving page items are most often just annoying. Don't create pages with automatic pop-up windows. Most users ignore them (thinking they are advertisements) and they are, again, annoying.

56. The home page must contain the following: a link to the district home page, the school address, the school telephone number.
57. Never post anything that can lead to the identification of any student. Don't give the 'bad' surfers anything to work with. While the posting of student’s names or pictures varies from campus to campus, never put the two together on the same page.
58. Remember that if you link it you endorse it. Before any site is linked to your school page, be sure that you have visited it and ensured that it is appropriate and relevant. Whether you actually endorse it or not, by linking to a page you have created an implied endorsement.
59. Don’t get the school needlessly blamed. Include disclaimers whenever posting material that is an individuals personal opinion and not the opinion of the school or district. This protects both the school and district from being unfairly associated with potentially controversial subjects.
60. Avoid letting students create important pages in your school site. Students are often guilty of 'eccentric' Web design. Very few will take the time to consider proper page layout and design. Be sure all students who will be creating pages for your Web site are introduced to the elements of proper Web design. Also, when they have completed their pages, be sure to edit them for proper spelling, grammar, and design. Keep in mind also that all writing and artwork created by students belongs to them and should only be used with written permission from both the student and their parents.