WebSiteExemplars

On this page we will share the web sites that we consider to be exemplary and will make a brief note about the aspect of the web site that we wish to call to attention.

Jean's links
Hopedale Public Schools http://www.hopedale.k12.ma.us/hps/site/default.asp Hopedale uses a content management system, School wires. This is a product similar to the one we had a vendor demo but (IMHO) better. Hopedale site is well organized with good navigation and pleasing pictures. I like the integrated calendars that are part of the SchoolWires product. Check out the calendar for each school. I prefer to see more individuality at the school level. Something in color and tone that indicates you are at a school, while keeping the layout and navigation.

Needham Public Schools http://www.needham.k12.ma.us/ Lots of good design features – banner and nav bar on top – nav bar organized for audience rather than by hierarchy of school org. Page opens quickly. Links to MANY resources directly from main page. Design carries through at least the first couple of levels and then allows for creativity. Hoever, at the school level design breaks down.

BBC (jean) http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/ I like the Quick links, the combo of pictures and links on the right, especially that the pictures download so fast, but I like the "tab" look across the top of the page found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/

http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/ This is one of my favorite school sites for immediate usefulness, sleek looking page, lots of links and info right up front. I like the banner with the links and photo and the bar down the left side with lots of links. http://www.plymouthschools.com/ I like the layout (almost like a blog) and the links across the top (te top navbar). I like that the design carries through to the schools, but would like a little more individuality at the school level.

http://www.seattleschools.org/area/main/index.dxml I like the layout – Banner & nav bar, across the top with a search, logo in the left corner Good audience organization rather than hierarchy of school org - tabs for each target audience member (students, parents, staff, community), good sidebar on left, real estate well used. I also like that the design carries through to the school level, but again, more individuality at the school level would be nice.

http://www.doe.mass.edu/ Just one thing on this page I want to mention - - On this page I like the Kidart on the right side of the page. Every time you open the page it displays a different art image. The DOE is willing to share the code for creating this. What might be possible is to start with photos of the schools and to begin to collect digital images of kid art to put into the slot.

http://www.milton.edu/ Good points: Lots of info and links from main page Calendar immediately obvious Search and navbar at top - I like the way the menus open up.

http://www.rivers.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1 good points: the pictures loop through like a slide show – even better than DOE site - lots of good links I do not like that the links are almost hidden by the photos

http://www.tcsd.org/ Another good site in general. Nice photos, nice nav bars, good design carry through.

http://www.caltech.edu/ Good site, nice use of white space. Very aesthetically pleasing.

http://gsas.harvard.edu/ They use joomla, which is a free open source content management system. Nice design. I like that the left navbar mouse over pops up an informational thing with what will be found inside, but does not require the user to chase down the pop open link.

Eric's links
= = = = http://www.birmingham.k12.mi.us/ Colorful and playful Pictures and slideshows Search feature All individual schools use same format

http://www.hillviewacademy.com/ Add an interactive calendar perhaps?

http://www.greenhill.org/default.aspx News sections on homepage http://www.greenhill.org/podium/default.aspx?t=101654 Nice ‘About Us’ from school’s director. Would Charles do this for the web site? http://www.greenhill.org/podium/default.aspx?t=101661 A parents section for the district webpage would be very nice and helpful to our community

Sue's Links here
http://www.uconn.edu/ Nice use of colors. Good contrast. Each page has a banner of pictures that draws you. Title on each page stands out so it is easy to find the section you want. Not too much text to wade through. I've been looking at a lot of college websites and this is an easy one to navigate and locate what you need.

Diane's Links:
http://www.westwood.k12.ma.us/ All schools use same basic design: drop down bar near top - High & middle same, elementary different yet similar with top drop down bar

http://www.littletonps.org/district/schools Much like Westwood, drop down bar with tabs. Right had side has Upcoming events all schools & district page

http://www.bancroftschool.org/ Nice, clean colors with changing photos of students, tabs on top for quick navigation

Many of the sites listed above by Jean, Eric, & Sue have drop down bars which gives quick navigation, photos or works of art that will change(speed was different on many of the sties), and all the school used the same template but may have varied the content.

Bonnie's links
 [|www.arlington.k12.ma.us/home] - great site, has side navigation bar, consistent across admin pages but schools have own style. They were nominated for the 2007 MassCUE Webbie Award. [|www.nps.northampton.ma.us/] - like the pull down menus (& sub pull downs) at top but color is over powering and front page is a bit dull. schools.bvsd.org/bearcreek/  - squares are a different way of doing pull-downs. Check out other schools in the Boulder Valley district, [|schools.bvsd.org/], many nice sites, with beautiful pictures. I thought that the high school’s main page was too busy but I like the border at the top of the page []. The main site [] has a Newcomers Family page as one of the links on their “New to Us” page, thought that was nice but then we have gotten 12 new students since the start of the year.

[] - Site is okay but there are cool features in the pictures box… 2 of the pictures having panning, there are words over the picture and a description on the bottom that I didn’t think took away from the picture and could still be seen. Other sites had words at the bottom but the font was small.

[|www.albany.edu/] Colors are bold but use is subtle except for Sports page [|www.ualbanysports.com/] which works. The 5 pictures on front page can be selected individually.

I forgot to add that you can texted the Librarian from Albany's web page under Library - Ask a Librarian [] (Only meant to turn one sentence green) //I like visible pull-down menus (in their own bar is nice) either at top or on the side. No white text on dark background, i.e. [|www.burlington.mec.edu/]. Subtle use of color, preferably not the whole page. //

Pat's Links
http://www.stmarksschool.org/ St Mark's School Southborough I like the layout with the banner with the school picture as well as the pictures that are links to other information

Andy's Links
[] Nice, simple Interface Design. Good Navigation.

[] Nice Intelligent design, while continuing to be simple.

Beth's links here
http://www.nsboro.k12.ma.us I like the way it is very crisp and has a stationery picture on the home page. For those of us who are easily distracted it is easy to navigate with the list of links on the left. I also like the way we can get to each of the schools. What needs to change is the design for the schools so that there is more equity without pushing webmasters past their abilities.

http://www.annamaria.edu/ Anna Maria College has just updated this page. I like again the simplicity of stationery pictures. I also like the drop-down menus which allow the user to go to the area they need. A college needs to have lots of info on its webpage for a mixed audience, I think listed links and drop downs work well for this.

Stephanie's links
http://www.westonschools.org This web site also has a stationary picture on the home page. I agree that a stationary picture is less distracting than an animation. I also like the overall layout of this page, with the drop down menus at the top. Some uniformity of the individual schools is nice, but I think a bit more individuality would be better Also, on the individual shcool pages, there is no obvious link back to the district page.

Looking at many of the sites above, my favorite features are: sites with banner layout across the top, stationary picture on district page, nav bar with drop down menu across the top, collapsible pages which fill the screen (ex. www.uconn.edu - Sue's link), max of three colors, and quick load time,.