Creating a School Website

Building Your Own Website

Before you create your first web site, you should first ask yourself the following questions:

1. Who is the intended audience for the site?
Adults? Children? Parents? Strangers?

2. Is it to be a "shop window" e.g. to show of your school and attract new pupils

3. Who will create and maintain the site?

4. What are your aims and your motives for starting the site?

5. What sort of content and information should be on the site?

6. Where will the site be hosted, and will you have your own internet address (domain)?

7. How regularly will the site be updated?

8. What software will you use to autshor the site?

Define your community

We decided that our site should be aimed at parents, staff and students. Once the target audience had been defined, it was a case of thinking about the information that these groups might want or find interesting.

Our main visitors are parents and students who are already familiar with the school. They are more interested to see pictures of the latest events and examples of the students’ work. However, we also needed to add a section for prospective parents which tells them about the school.

Stages of Constructing a Website

Once you have the idea and you have worked out your aims you can then start making your web site. First, you will need to collect together all of the information you will need and some images too. We scanned pictures and used one of our digital cameras to take photographs.

An online version of the prospectus was important to include and we based our early website around it. We also added diary dates, directions, and newsletters.

Design and Content

Once you have gathered all of the materials you can start planning the website. First you need to think about the layout and how many pages you will produce and how they will be linked to each other.

Be careful not have too many graphics or pictures on one page as it will take time for it to download. Generally, people are impatient on the internet and they will leave your web site if it takes a long time to load. There has to be a careful mix of text and pictures. Text will always appear first so give them something to read while they are waiting for the pictures to load.

Putting the pages together

Now you are ready to start creating you first web site. Don't underestimate the time it may take to set up a site from scratch, but once it is up and running it is a lot less time-consuming. You can also save a lot of time by using the right software.

There are quite a few different web site creators on the market. Probably one of the most successful programs is DreamWeaver. This is a WYSIWYG program. Basically, you can create your page in much the same way as you use a word processor. What you see is what you get. With a click of a button you can also see the HTML script. This is the language of the internet and to the uninitiated it probably looks like Greek. I know some schools that teach students to make web sites by typing in the HTML language. But if you are a beginner, or someone who doesn't want to learn a new language, then using a WYSIWYG program is your best option.

We found that if the students could already use a word processing program then they could use DreamWeaver with little further instruction. In fact, the students were ready to put pages onto the internet after only a few lessons. But the more pages and images you add, the more complicated it becomes. So, the rule we have is, always start with a simple plan. Let the web site grow as you yourself grow with experience and knowledge.

Websites

When you are making websites, no two sites are the same or demand the same amount of effort. Our main school website is a 'high maintenance' site. It generates between twenty and fifty emails a day and needs regular updating. On the other hand, the Woodlands Infant website is a 'low maintenance' site. It promotes the school very well, yet only requires only the occasional updating.

Challenges and Difficulties

We made a lot of mistakes in the early days, but we learned from these. Internet publishing is not like book publishing. If you make a mistake, you can correct it the next time you update that page and upload it onto the internet. If you are lucky, no-one spotted the mistake.

Some areas of our website demand more time to maintain than other areas. For instance our homework pages need constant reviewing. They contain many links to other web sites which have to be checked regularly to make sure that an 'unsafe' website has not taken over the domain. Luckily, we have only come across such a website once but, in our eyes, that is one website too many. It worth remembering that every website you link to needs to be checked regularly.

Other areas of our website which are less demanding include our Maths, Science and Revision Zones. Once we finished creating them they required very little updating.

We love the interaction our website has with the outside world. But with each interaction comes the possibility of it being abused. All messages in our guest book and message board are reviewed before they are posted. This of course takes time but is much better than having pages taken up by unwanted visitors. Emails and letters to our students are also checked before our students read them, unless they are from a known source.

Collaborative Internet Projects

Not all of our projects have been confined between the school walls.

On a few occasions, we have linked up with schools in different countries to share our cultures. The students exchange letters and artwork.

Costs

A website can cost anything you like. It is actually possible to do one for free. If you know HTML, you can use Notepad to create your page. Graphics can be downloaded for free from the internet. You can use a host provider such as geocities.com, tripod.com or xoom.com who let you store your web site on their hard disks for free. Once your web site is finished, you can download a free version of a ftp program that lets you upload all of your web site files onto the internet. It is even possible to have free internet connection these days. Total cost: zero.

However, if you are more serious about creating a presence on the internet then you will need to pay some money.

You will need software programs to make the web pages (such as Macromedia DreamWeaver or Microsoft Front Page) and graphic programs (such as Adobe Photo Shop or Ulead PhotoImpact) to make titles and banners. You will also need a FTP program (such as Ace FTP or WS FTP) in order to upload your web files onto the internet.

Next you will need a host server (a place to store your pages on the internet which lets people have 24 hours access) and a domain name (the address on the internet where people can find you). Every school in England has been given a domain name and your local education authority will advise you on who can host your website.

Advice for Interested Teachers

When you come to create your first web site, keep it simple to start with and don't try to get too ambitious too soon. Internet has some limitations compared to a book. The pages do load slowly so you have to think carefully about how much you put on one page. Get the students to write about things that interest them. That way it won’t seem like hard work to them. Be prepared to learn from your mistakes. Surf the internet a lot to see what other people are doing. The internet is the best text book for learning.

How to Get Readers to Your Website

That old notion “build it and they will come” doesn't really work on the internet. There must be millions of web sites out there by now and your site is just a drop in the ocean. If you are doing a web site about your school then you already have a captured audience. But, what if you want more visitors? People can’t find you unless you do some promotion.

There are some professional businesses that, for a fee, will help promote your site. But, if you have the time and patience, you can do this yourself by visiting some of the popular search engines such as yahoo.com, excite.com and altavista.com and submitting your site. After a couple of weeks your site should be on their databases.

I think our best promoter was word of mouth. Our British culture pages and Games zone were providing our visitors with something that other schools did not have and word quickly spread on the grapevine. As the word started to spread further, newspaper journalists started contacting the school which gave us even further promotion.

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