Web design can be a daunting task. Although the tools are drag and drop, you are not sure what to do and how to make it look good. This page is designed for you, the busy teacher who needs a place to keep all their files, an access point for students, and a place to gather information.
Suggestions for Web Design
1. Know Your Audience
The most important thing to keep in mind is the purpose and audience of your website. By deciding who it is for, you will begin to narrow the focus for your page and what needs to be on it.
As a teacher, I keep several different types of pages. The first is this one. It is a teacher resource page that I created so that I ( and others) can go to and find resources. I keep a BLOG on this page so that I can add to it easily when I see things on the web that I would like to document. I use the blog as a way to bookmark resources while documenting my ideas about them. Because this site is for me, it does not have widgets in it to make me come back to it. I use the site. I come back to it on my own.
For me as a teacher I have 3 difference audiences:
1. My students and their parents
2. My Teaching Partners ( the 8th grade team)
3. Myself and others who want tech-ed resources
For each of these audiences I have a different page or pages.
As a teacher, I keep several different types of pages. The first is this one. It is a teacher resource page that I created so that I ( and others) can go to and find resources. I keep a BLOG on this page so that I can add to it easily when I see things on the web that I would like to document. I use the blog as a way to bookmark resources while documenting my ideas about them. Because this site is for me, it does not have widgets in it to make me come back to it. I use the site. I come back to it on my own.
For me as a teacher I have 3 difference audiences:
1. My students and their parents
2. My Teaching Partners ( the 8th grade team)
3. Myself and others who want tech-ed resources
For each of these audiences I have a different page or pages.
2. Page Design is about ease of use
Don't clutter your webpage with flashing things and sounds. They just annoy people and load slowly. Keep it simple. Think about that room in your house that you love to sit in and read. You want the objects in the room to stand out. You want pictures and words. You want all those great text features that make things easy to read.
3. Give your Audience a Reason to Come Back
You need to keep your content fresh. There are lots of widgets you can add that help you do that. This is a reason to use your blog, or have students keep blogs on your site. You can also set up a place for students to send you assignments or to look at content and report back to you. You can post articles to read or photos or even videos for others to look at. Remember if I come back to your webpage and you have the same content I probably won't come back again.
4. Rome Wasn't Built in a Day
Imagine that you are building rooms onto your house. You are the interior decorator. Each room has a function. You build your mansion one room at a time. You are building a website. It takes time to build something. Do one thing and then come back. The nice thing is that once you build that page you can move on to others.
