Education Web Design

Preparation is just as important as getting the perfect design for your new website. The way your website is organized can determine if your school district website or teacher website is going to be successful or a bitter failure. Most of the clients we work with want a new website because their current website is unorganized and information is buried deep within the site. Many older school district websites are also built with static HTML. If your school doesn’t have a person comfortable with updating those types of sites you will be left with a web pages full of buried information and broken links. Here are some steps in preparing your new website.

Start with a blank slate

Usually old websites still have accessible information that is out dated and no longer relevant. In some instances plan your new website layout as if you don’t have a website currently. This will help you determine what information is really important to your visitors.

Answer this question: What are my visitors looking for?

Determine what your users are trying to find on your website. Throughout the years of working with school districts, many of them see announcements, lunch menus, and upcoming events as some of the most important items on their website. Using our website traffic monitoring software you will find out what pages are being looked at the  most and can organize your site accordingly to make sure those popular pages can be easily found.

Create a sitemap and flow chart

Once you have determined what information needs to be easily found on your website you can then start developing your menus or “tabs.” Most education websites will have menu items and sub menu items full of information. Categorizing and organizing your information into menus can be time consuming task, but is the most important aspect in the success of your school website.

Example of a simple flow chart:

Main Menu: Home | District Information | High School | Middle School | Elementary School | Staff Directory | Activities | Contact Us

Drop down sub menu for District Information: Calendar, Newsletters, Financial, Health, Employment, School Board

Drop down sub menu for High School: Welcome Page, Activities, Departments, Calendar, Contact Us

Sometimes your drop down sub menus need to be broken down even more. Here is an example where this school wants a page dedicated to each activity in the high school.

High School Activities sub menu: Football, Volleyball, Basketball, Speech, Drama, etc.