The following are a few tips I think are important to remember when you are designing a website: *Keep the layout simple *Choose aesthetically pleasing colors *Have a structured layout *Make sure your links work *Make sure the information is relevant *Go easy on font style and size changes *Constantly think about your audience
Designing a webpage today has been made so much easier than it use to be. There are now websites that have designed templates for you to tweak and make your own. This has really helped address a lot of the problems with novice website designers.
One of the most annoying things to me when I am cruising through a website is to continuously click on links that are “broken.” What is the point of the website if the content is not up to date, relevant, and useful.
I think that a media center’s web page should contain information useful to both parents and students while giving the community members and stakeholders an idea of what is going on in the media center. It is a great place to spotlight book reviews and post information about upcoming media events. Events such as Scholastic book fairs now have websites set up for you to link to so that people can read information about the upcoming event. This is a great tool that requires minimal work from the media specialist.
So….should we continue to use websites or switch to blogs and/or wikis? Well, I guess that depends on what your main purpose for the site is. Do you want to use it to get out information to others? Or do you want feedback and interaction with your audience? I know that I would have a hard time managing a site that required constant monitoring and responses. Our county cut media clerks to part time and I am having a hard time managing things like it is. I don’t even have time to work on the school website, much less get really involved and respond to comments that could be posted daily. While I can see the benefits of using a blog or wiki, I also see the relevance in the old-fashioned web site. Sometimes we just need to provide some information and resources. What the user chooses to do with that information is up to him or her.
I agree with your honest comments on wikis and blogs. It is very difficult to keep up with day to day management of the media center without having to keep up with feedback that might come from wikis and blogs. I guess it depends on the audience you would target and if you were in the high school setting or elementary.
It's funny to hear you say the "old-fashioned website." That just shows how fast technology is moving and how we must keep up! The thought of keeping up with it all is overwhelming. Media specialists must really be multitaskers. I believe it is important to balance and prioritize the needs of individual schools. Some schools require more information for their website while other schools have fewer parents and students with computer access which might mean the priority needs to be placed on different tasks without as much time on websites. Just some of my thoughts!
The following are a few tips I think are important to remember when you are designing a website:
ReplyDelete*Keep the layout simple
*Choose aesthetically pleasing colors
*Have a structured layout
*Make sure your links work
*Make sure the information is relevant
*Go easy on font style and size changes
*Constantly think about your audience
Designing a webpage today has been made so much easier than it use to be. There are now websites that have designed templates for you to tweak and make your own. This has really helped address a lot of the problems with novice website designers.
One of the most annoying things to me when I am cruising through a website is to continuously click on links that are “broken.” What is the point of the website if the content is not up to date, relevant, and useful.
I think that a media center’s web page should contain information useful to both parents and students while giving the community members and stakeholders an idea of what is going on in the media center. It is a great place to spotlight book reviews and post information about upcoming media events. Events such as Scholastic book fairs now have websites set up for you to link to so that people can read information about the upcoming event. This is a great tool that requires minimal work from the media specialist.
So….should we continue to use websites or switch to blogs and/or wikis? Well, I guess that depends on what your main purpose for the site is. Do you want to use it to get out information to others? Or do you want feedback and interaction with your audience? I know that I would have a hard time managing a site that required constant monitoring and responses. Our county cut media clerks to part time and I am having a hard time managing things like it is. I don’t even have time to work on the school website, much less get really involved and respond to comments that could be posted daily. While I can see the benefits of using a blog or wiki, I also see the relevance in the old-fashioned web site. Sometimes we just need to provide some information and resources. What the user chooses to do with that information is up to him or her.
I agree with your honest comments on wikis and blogs. It is very difficult to keep up with day to day management of the media center without having to keep up with feedback that might come from wikis and blogs. I guess it depends on the audience you would target and if you were in the high school setting or elementary.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny to hear you say the "old-fashioned website." That just shows how fast technology is moving and how we must keep up! The thought of keeping up with it all is overwhelming. Media specialists must really be multitaskers. I believe it is important to balance and prioritize the needs of individual schools. Some schools require more information for their website while other schools have fewer parents and students with computer access which might mean the priority needs to be placed on different tasks without as much time on websites. Just some of my thoughts!