Advice please- School Website

Stewie Griffin

Hi there.

I'm looking into revamping or else rebuilding from scratch the school website and I'm looking for advice on all the different options:

1) Do I need to learn HTML to design a good one?
2) I would be willing to do a good course during easter/summer holidays. Can anyone recommend one/ know of one?
3)I also want advice on software. Is it simply a matter of buying Dreamweaver (or a rival product) and letting it do the work for me?
4) Could it be as simple as buying a good manual like "Websites for Dummies" and following the orders?

Genuine impartial advice please. Assume no knowledge on my behalf. I'm a teacher with an interest in this area, that's all.

Thanks in anticipation.

spurious

I do ours in Notepad. (I'll PM you the link).
I got a CSS template from one of the free sites (with permission) and just adapt it as I go along.
I don't have any formal training in HTML, I just sort of picked it up. I would have liked a course.
I use tables a lot and judicious 'view source' (and copy) on other pages.

Now that it's up and running, I just get teachers or kids to give me photos or accounts of events and I stick them in every so often.

Chilli Con Kearney

I would recommend Dreamweaver. I think the latest version is 8 or 9. It doesn't really matter though, I think.

This programme is very easy to use - extremely user-friendly. You can work in the html section (no need to though!) and/or the equivalent page which is just like a word document. It has all the usual word functions such as copy/paste, tables, underline, font, etc. etc.

This way, there is no need to learn html again. As you work in the blank page, the html autimatically writes its own equivalent as you work away!

It may cost a bit, but I'm sure the management would be happy to shell out for such an important marketing tool. Also, you could use it with TYs for mini companies to build their own websites!

I'm not expert but that's what I'd recommend. Hope this helps.

nellyshark

I could possibly make one up for you for free, need the practice. Pm me if you want, I can show some work etc done before

byhookorbycrook

A lot of schools now use blogs, much easier than updating an older style site.

Tom Dunne

I've just finished teaching a course in Dreamweaver and to be honest, it isn't worth the money unless you are a full time web developer.

Aside from HTML, I assume your site is hosted on a hosting provider? If so, for a very small fee, you can install a Content Management System and not ever have to worry about HTML, CSS or Javascript. Here's a link to Blacknight (disclaimer: I have no connection to that company, just a satisfied customer) to give you an idea of prices.

TheDriver

just make sure its not a tacky "one massive photo and last updated 4 years ago" type of thing like some schools have. We have roughly 2000 hits every month and its not really kids but more for policies etc we find it useful.
Also, in our VEC school, frontpage 2003 is part of the licence for us to take home and use and you can get your school to buy dreamweaver etc on an educational licence which is dirt cheap.
I found something like fireworks a nice little programme for doing up a simple website

I use hosting356 and found them to be very cheap and very reliable, we also have our moodle on it too within same hosting package

Stewie Griffin

Thanks for all the replies folks.

That's the thing about Dreamweaver-opinions tend to be very polarised on it.
To honest, I'm not sure if it is a hosted site as I'm only very very new to the game. The IT guy tells me it is done on a platform called (I think!) Jamula or Jambula or something like that. I'm not sure if that's spelled right because our conversation was interrupted and I never caught up with him again since.

That ringing any bells with anyone?

Tails142

joomla - you wont need to know html, uses templates

Stewie Griffin

Thanks, tails142. Have you any experience of it?

Tom Dunne

Stewie Griffin wrote: »

Thanks, tails142. Have you any experience of it?

Well there you go. You are using my suggestion.

I have used it before, it takes a little getting used to, but it is fairly straight forward.

So, you can set themes, add information, allow logins, lots and lots of interactive stuff, all without learning the techie stuff.

Have a look here: http://www.joomla.org/ lots of demos and tutorials to give you an idea.

Qwerty?

I use Plesk Sitebuilder, which is included for free in Blacknights Hosting Plan. I'll PM you a link.

Stewie Griffin

Sorry Tom. Muy bad!

My own instinct would have been to opt for Dreamweaver and the IT guy in the school would have picked it too but the site was constructed externally using joomla,apparently. I have a feeling that's the one I will have to become familiar with, whether it be good, bad or indifferent.

There is solid advice there from all posters. I'm doing another website anyway so I'm still looking for suggestions on what works etc.

Can I ask a spectacularly undergraduate question? (like i said, I'm a newbie!) Everyone seems to recommend developing/using a hosted website- is there an alternative to this method? What are the advantages/disadvantages to being hosted like this?

I'm just trying to make as informed a decision as possible.

Thanks.

Tom Dunne

Stewie Griffin wrote: »

Can I ask a spectacularly undergraduate question? (like i said, I'm a newbie!) Everyone seems to recommend developing/using a hosted website- is there an alternative to this method? What are the advantages/disadvantages to being hosted like this?

The main advantage is that you simply rent space on a server. The hosting company looks after all the hard stuff like availability, backup, OS, etc.

The alternative is that you get a static IP address from your ISP and put up your own server, maintain it, install all software, patches, etc., do the backups, and when you get time, install, configure and develop a website.

Basically, hosting is a lot less hassle and incredibly cheaper.

Stewie Griffin

Thanks Tom Dunne. Newstalk rocks, btw!:D

E.T.

If you do use blogspot.com or anything similar for a school blog just be aware of the "next blog" button at the top of the page - it leads to the next blog which could be absolutely anything! We were made aware of this by another school using blogspot. You can google code to hide/rename this button to make it safer for users.