School Library Media Activities Monthly has an article on Web pages for the 21st century by Pat Franklin and Claire Gatrell Stephens that gives us all a reminder to check our Web pages. This was a much-needed reminder to me, as it is one of those library media center projects that we know is important but can easily slip down on the priority list as more urgent, time-sensitive tasks occur.

Here are some thoughts that leapt to mind as I read their article:

1. Know your audience. Some pages within your Web site may be geared toward parents, others toward students, and others toward staff. A friend reminded me today of this when she pointed out that she is redesigning the Web site for her schools with a focus on her elementary students. She is using big, colorful icons that can help her emerging readers navigate successfully. Those same icons might be off-putting to high school students.Our school has a content management system template with two columns. I often put student links in the left column, and a little narrative for parents of my elementary students in the right column. So on our encyclopedias and databases page, the links are on the left, and an explanation of why we might start research with these subscription encyclopedias instead of with Google is on the right.
2. Keep a consistent “look” across all pages. This fits with a larger theme of “branding” our school library media centers. In a similar vein, does your staff know that a memo or flyer is from you “just by looking at it”?
3. Have high color contrast between the background color and the text font. Avoid blue fonts unless you’re making a link.
4. Consider a sans serif font (no little “lines” at the end of a letter — examples are Arial, Helvetica, and Verdana) over serif fonts (such as Times New Roman). Use a common font such as the ones mentioned so that your text renders on everybody’s computers in the same way (users’ browsers will substitute another font if their computer doesn’t have your font). Some people claim that Comic Sans is a particularly “readable” font, especially for students who struggle with reading.
5. When making links, consider having them open in a new window so that the library’s home page is always accessible.
6. Consider making your Web site a portal that links to other communication tools that are collaborative, such as a wiki or a blog, for more current media center information.
7. If you need free Web hosting, consider Google Pages (http://pages.google.com), which has attractive templates, has a nice built-in link tester, and gives lots of storage space.
8. At our school last year, we talked about minimum expectations for teacher Web pages, and we gave ourselves a reality check — not everyone has the time or inclination to have a robust Web presence, but outdated or empty pages are bad for PR. We gave teachers strategies for their Web pages. For example, if they were having a very busy year and frequent updates would not be an option, we suggested that they put minimal information and their phone number so parents could reach them. For those who wanted more, we suggested linking to a blog to record their class’s experiences throughout the year. See this chart. And, of course, we offered to help along the way.
9. Keep flashing, animated objects to a minimum. I heard once in a distance learning training course that animated images could be a danger to students with epilepsy. I don’t know if this is true or not, but sometimes, animated images feel a bit amateurish. (This goes back to audience in #1 — would your audience view your Web page as one made by a professional?)
10. Think about a regular schedule for updating your Web presence: monthly? biweekly (use your paycheck as a reminder to check your Web site)? daily? Be realistic — we’re busy folks.

Join the Conversation

What’s on your Web page that you’re particularly proud of? What would you add if you had more time or resources?

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 11th, 2007 at 1:20 am and is filed under Web sites, Web 2.0 - General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.