You'll have to decide on an organisation plan for the site.
You need to consider
where your website sits in relation to other websites within the
school
the website should not mirror the organisational map of the school
but instead
what users want to do at your website
Some Guidelines
Start small but figure on growth.
I started with one page, but soon planned a site where every learning
area is covered and each has its own folder and subsections have subfolders.
This allows for expansion as further assignments are added.
Create enough folders for each main section and folders with the
directories to divide up into sub sections. Do not create too many
levels of folders. For an average site there should be a reasonable
number of folders (around 5 -7) and only a few levels (around 3 -
5). Very large sites may have a need for more; very small sites less.
Keep the folders and file names short, with no spaces or strange
symbols and no capitals so there will not be trouble with older or
less common browsers.
Place all graphics in one folder (call it images or graphics).
Organisation
By learning area
In this scenario you might like to have sections based on the seven
key learning areas. There might be separate sections that include
special areas your school covers. As time goes on this might be divided
into subsections. Remember, wherever you place topics they can be
linked.
By year group
In a primary school, you may choose to group topics by year group
or section of the school, especially if topics are studied by a number
of similar classes.
By sub school
Now many schools are specialising in middle schooling and senior
school divisions, the primary section may be by sub school and then
teams before emphasising topics.
By teacher
In small primary schools you may wish to organise information into
each teacher's sub area.
Subdivisions
These will need to be subdivided. How? What makes sense? What will
your users be looking for?
What combination of the groups above is right for you? What makes
sense for you and your school? At first you may not have anything
each section. You do not need to create folders until they contain
anything, but you will need to have a plan to accommodate further
growth. Your structure may look like one of these (click on each to
see a larger version) , or perhaps like none. Yours will be suitable
for your own resource centre.
A website is not a book
The organisation of a website can be much more fluid than a book
because of the magic of hyperlinks. You can link each page to a number
of other pages, go back and forwards and off on a tangent.
Redundant navigation is the key
Organise the links coherently with easy navigation. Link! Link!
Link! The glory of the web is to refer forwards backwards and
sideways! You should be able to find your way around with ease.
A search facility is also useful. Freefind
provides a free search facility, which indexes as often as you
like. Google provides a free
search for education institutions but is only indexed once a month.
FrontPage has a search option. This may or may not work depending
on server options and set-ups.
Navigation bars are important. Create a template and have a common
navigation border. I place mine on the right hand side, though
this is less usual, because most users are right handed and have
their mouse on that side. Also, if your page is designed to sometimes
appear in the frame of a parent website, two areas of navigation
on the left hand side makes finding "real" content difficult.
You can insert navigation buttons or bars at will.
Frames are a bad idea. Don't use frames! Users can end up with
tiny windows in which to view your page. Users have no idea when
they are on your site or elsewhere. If you link within frames it
can imply a page is on your site when it is not, raising difficult
copyright issues.
Using Inspiration, map out a structure you think will suit
you. Put in headings and sub headings for further folders and files
(keep those folder names short!). Don't panic!! Remember you have
your towel (if you don't know what I'm talking about read Douglas
Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and you will change
and alter it (even though this should be kept to a minimum as it annoys
people when things move!).
By this stage, you can start creating a few folders, files and pages
with possible content.
Submit a draft of this now! Remember
to write your journal and contribute to the Bulletin Board.
Introduction
