Helpful hints for submitting information to the WCCUSD website

Goal: Lots of content, simple format, easy-to-use design

Concentrate on gathering the information people are likely to need, not on the format or design of the pages.

We want to keep the design as consistent and simple as possible across the site, so that a visitor can easily navigate from page to page without having to become familiar with a new look or organizational system. Simple design also makes it easy to continue to update and expand the content.

When you send material to be posted, the simpler the format the better. Changing fonts, font size, putting text in frames, adding graphics etc. only make it more difficult to convert to a web page. Fancy fonts and color combinations other than black text on a white background are more difficult to read. ALL CAPS is always difficult to read, and italics is difficult to read online.

Content can be sent in Word documents or in the text of the email . While columns made by spacing or tabbing don't convert well to a web page, using the " Table " feature in Word usually works fine. pdfs are a last resort. They are slow to download, can't be updated, and commands such as "Find" don't work on them.

Of course if a document already exists with extensive formatting, please send it anyway.

Most of the material that needs to be on the website you will not have to create . It is already in your files. Think about what documents you refer to for information. You might want to read the document over, though, to see if there are changes that will make it more user friendly, such as an introduction, spelling out acronyms, explaining terms, etc.

Rather than describing what you want the page to include, type the content word-for-word as you would like it to appear on the page.

Material should be approved by the principal or department head before it is submitted for posting on the district website.

Timely material

Aim for content that is likely to be current for a long time, such as basic policies. (The information on Transfers on the site is a good example of information that is useful to the reader and should reduce the number of phone calls for routine information. Notice that it takes advantage of something - the resident school directory - that was already on our website.)

If you have content that will become dated (a list of meeting dates, deadlines, an upcoming event, etc.), it is helpful to separate that out into another file. Then we can delete that material as soon as it is out of date, but keep the longer-term content.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions are a great way to provide information in a way that is understandable to the site visitor. They are just what they sound like -- answers to the questions you get asked most frequently.

If you haven't written them yet, it would be helpful if you use this style:

Q:

A:

Links

It is very easy to create links - to other parts of our website or to any other website. If there are other pages on our site or any other website that would be useful to visitors to your section, please include the website address (eg: www.wccusd.k12.ca.us).

Keep it up to date

Remember to send updates as information changes: staff, phone numbers, policies and procedures, etc. Send additional pages, or just notes about a few words that need to be changed. It's helpful if you can give the address of the particular page you would like changed (The address of this page, for example, is www.wccusd.k12.ca.us/employees/webhints.htm, as you can see in the address window at the top of your screen.) If you get a lot of requests for particular information, that's a good indication of something we should add to the website. Remember we can add more Frequently Asked Questions too.

Publicize the site

To help encourage people to take advantage of the information on the website, mention what information is available when people call up for information, and put the web address (www.wccusd.k12.ca.us) on print publications. You can also help people find a particular part of the website by listing a more specific address such as http://www.wccusd.k12.ca.us/news/ . Let staff of school sites and other departments who call you for information know if it is on the website.

Get to know the site

It is helpful if you explore the site once in a while to make sure your office's information is current, and to see what others have posted that might be of use to you.