District Administration - April 2008 - (Page 52)

How Well Does This Web Site LEARN WHAT OUR WEB ANALYST SAYS IS RIGHT AND WRONG WITH THIS DISTRICT SITE Aurora City (OH) School District www.aurora-schools.org By Kurt O. Dyrli THE AURORA CITY SCHOOL District is located 30 miles outside of Cleveland and enrolls 3,000 students in ﬁve schools. Design Overall, the design of the home page provides easy access to a lot of information, without having too much content to overwhelm the user. The layout is sleek and intuitive, with content well placed in clearly deﬁned sections, such as the navigation menus bordering the top and sides of the center column of news items. The headings for each page use quality pictures of district students, instead of graphics or stock photography, which gives the site a unique character. Links to each school are placed prominently in the left of the page, and commonly accessed links use professionallooking icons in the right margin. The location of the district should appear in the heading, rather than in ﬁne print at the bottom of the page. Navigation All of the schools in the district maintain the same design and navigation menu in the heading of every page, and each opens up its own individual menu in the left margin, so navigation is consistent and logical. While the search tool on the home page works well, it should also be maintained on each district page just as the navigation menu is, so users can search at any time without having to return to the home page. Each school should also have its own search function. Interaction with the User Links to all resources requiring login, such 52 April 2008 “Overall, the design of the home page provides easy access to a lot of information, without having too much content to overwhelm the user. The layout is sleek and intuitive, with content well placed in clearly deﬁned sections, such as the navigation menus bordering the top and sides of the center column of news items.” “While the search tool on the home page works well, it should also be maintained on each district page just as the navigation menu is, so users can search at any time without having to return to the home page. Each school should also have its own search function.” as Blackboard and Groupwise, are grouped together in a box on the home page. The Staﬀ Directory starts out well, but it needs to be reworked. All district staﬀ members are listed in a long column, resulting in a large amount of blank space, which makes the page awkward to navigate. Since all staﬀ are listed, the poorly functioning staﬀ search function is redundant and unnecessary. The Site Map hotlink, which should access this important tool for users who prefer a map to a menu, was apparently never developed and only opens to a blank page. There are no unique access provisions for disabled users. District Administration http://www.aurora-schools.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - April 2008

District Administration - April 2008
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Technology
Facilities & Construction
Curriculum
Inside the Law
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Profit and Loss in School-Business Partnerships
The Broad Way
Big Macs for Big Grades
Hometown Success
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Speaking Out
Crisis Response
New Products
Problem/Solution
Computer Literature
Research Center
Calendar of Events
Products Showcase
Understanding the Times

District Administration - April 2008