Learn about Designing your Content for your Web Resources
You should now have collected data about your web project and should have a general idea of what content you will be using. Now, let’s learn about different ways of organizing and using the content in your website. Once you know more about the best organizational strategies for your content, you will be able to make a better decision about which web tool to choose.
· From Digital Directions, read http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2009/01/21/03website.h02.html. Then, visit your school district’s website. In your journal, briefly comment about whether or not the website meets most of the suggestions from the article.
Education Week: Digital Directions offers many suggestions that school districts can use to build better web sites. After visiting the Grant County School District web site and comparing it to these suggestions, I believe my district has done a good job of being a “gateway” for parents, teachers, and students. This site is maintained and updated on a consistent basis. The main page provides recent news throughout the district and provides important information that is needed. There is a ton of information provided but it is broken up by different areas and schools. This allows the entire district site to have clear navigation. The site also has a consistent look throughout all of the pages included.
· From the Yale Web Style Guide, read the Information Architecture chapter: http://webstyleguide.com/wsg3/3-information-architecture/index.html Refer to the first two articles as well as the following sections of the Yale Web Style Guide, to answer the following questions:
o Thinking about the Five Hat Racks (http://webstyleguide.com/wsg3/3-information-architecture/2-organizing-information.html), how do you anticipate that you will organize the content for your website?
The content for my website will be organized mostly by categories. I will also try and have the most essential elements placed together for users to gain access to on a regular basis.
o What underlying paradigms for site organization do you anticipate you will choose?
I am not sure I have a specific paradigm in mind for my site because there are several that I think are useful for my audience. I want my audience to be informed on important news and information that is taking place within my classroom (novelty). I also want to provide them with useful links that can help them with current or future projects that take place in my classes (navigation).
o On page http://webstyleguide.com/wsg3/3-information-architecture/3-site-structure.html, what site structure do you anticipate choosing?
The structure of my site will be sequenced-based because it deals with what is going on within my classroom as it happens or about to happen.
o On the page http://webstyleguide.com/wsg3/3-information-architecture/4-presenting-information.html, it talks about creating a site design. Choose how you will do this. For example, will you simply draw this on paper or will you try something like using a visual software tool (like using the shapes or smart art on Word, a software tool like Visio or Inspiration, or an online visual mapping tool. For example, there is a site called Cacoo (http://cacoo.com/) that is cool. Or, you can use Google Draw, which is a part of Google Docs (http://docs.google.com).
It is important to know how to design the structure of your site. You want to have a good design in mind before you start placing in your content because it can become scattered and unorganized. I have research several sites to look at their site structure to see what works the best and what doesn’t work. I have even sketched out ideas on paper to see how I would like the content placed out. There are also several tools available to help map out your design. I thought Cacoo can be a very useful resource, especially for those who are visual like me. I want to keep my design simple and basic for my audience because I know that not everyone will have the same experiences with technology as others so I want to keep it accessible for everyone.
IN YOUR JOURNAL – briefly describe the web tool you have preliminarily decided to use and why you ultimately chose the tool. Be sure to discuss how you based your decision on your data and your information design and why this particular tool will be the best choice for your particular situation.
There have been many steps I have taken for designing my site. I started out designing my site based off of other sites I have visited. I wanted to use elements that worked for them. I then sketched out ideas of my site and placed those ideas into a web design tool, Cacoo. Ultimately, I have decided to use a weebly as my design tool for my web site. It is very user friendly and you have a ton of options to choose from when it comes to layouts, photo/video displays, etc. I also chose this design because I think it will be great to teach my students how to create their own weebly site. They can take my site and use it as a resource when designing their own. It is also helpful that it is a free site to use and you can upgrade to a paid membership for more elements to choose from. My weebly site will also allow access to my blog which can include announcements or special events to inform my students and parents.
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