Yes, there are millions of sites on the World Wide Web. There's a good reason for that - information on web sites is available to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Virtually any type of visual or aural information can be contained on a web site - text, pictures, graphics, sound, video. A site devoted to you, your class, or your school can provide its audience with a wealth of information.

     Teacher Technology Forum is not going to tell you how to build a web site; there are more than enough services available for that, and your school or district may even have a staff that specializes in performing those mechanics. Baker (2008) wrote a useful piece on the decisions you need to make when setting up your class web site, such as web design products, hosting options, and the like. 
    
     Instead, here is some guidance on how you can make your own web site as effective as possible. Think ADDIE - assess, design, develop, implement, and evaluate. The basic curriculum design method you learned in your preservice days.

Know Your Audience
     Before you make a single design decision about your site, think about who is actually going to be viewing it. Teacher and class web sites are primarily accessed by students, parents, and others connected specifically to your school or district. What do they need to know? Are you going to post assignments or a calendar of events, explain your grading system, or display student work? Will the site primarily communicate one way (you to them), or do you want them to be able to communicate with you through the site? Will there be information specifically targeted to on of these groups?

Determine the best method for communicating your information
     The nature and abilities of your audience will determine the method you use to communicate your information. Any text must be in language understood by the viewer. Remember that most people learn visually, so illustrative graphics may be in order, especially on a class web site. Do your writing offline; that is, put it into a word processing document first. You can copy and paste it into the design software or online design utility later. If you are going to use other media like pictures, sound, or video, gather those files too. Play with it all, see how the pieces support each other.

Do a basic outline on paper
     Think of this as a organizational chart or a storyboard. You're probably going to have too much information to put onto a single page, so sketch out how the pages will interrelate. Your main (home) page will probably contain nothing more than an introduction and links to other major pages, which in turn will link to other pages, etc. For example, this site has a total of 15 pages of information so far, but every page isn't linked to every other page. Knowing how your site will be organized also helps you further refine how your information will be presented.

Choose an overall design
     The design of your site largely determines how well you hold the interest of the viewer, so pay a lot of attention to it.You can design your actual web site offline using programs like Dreamweaver, FrontPage, or a number of others, or you may be able to use predesigned templates provided by the hosting service itself. All of these programs and services allow you, in varying degrees, to enter your information and formatting using common tools, like a word processor. The programs convert your information, formatting, and insertions into the proper code. You can learn how to write in HTML (hyper text markup language), but it's certainly not required.
     There are several other design factors to consider:

• Font- Any textual material must be easily readable. The most readable fonts used for text are Arial and Times New Roman (this is written in Times New Roman, as are most newspapers). You might use other fonts like Comic Sans MS or Verdana in order to make certain information stand out, or because it better suits the theme of your site, but the basic rule is readability. Mixing too many styles causes confusion for the reader, so keep variations to a minimum. Use bold or italicized text, or even bold italicized text to draw attention to certain words. Something that looks fancy and elaborate may appeal to our more artistic side, but the goal of the communication determines the best approach.
• Size - The size of your font also affects readability. Body text usually works with a 12 point font, like what you're reading now, but headers and subheaders might be larger or highlighted in some other way. Note that what you see on your design page may not look quite the same in a browser, so check your work as you go by previewing it in a browser. Most online services and offline web design programs have a preview feature.
• Color - This is critical. White text on a black background may be striking to behold, but that color scheme inhibits readability and distracts the viewer from your message. Text should contrast well with the background, which itself should be pleasing to the eye without being distracting. Do use color, though - it adds interest, communicates emotion (exciting, calm, hot, cold, etc.), and adds to the overall impact of your site.
• Layout - The overall ability of your site to hold the reader's attention will be affected by how it is balanced and the visual cues you insert on the page. Generally, you want the reader's eyes to be drawn from one section to the next, so make sure your layout supports that. A large graphic that pushes text below the bottom of the screen may hide the fact that the text is even there, and lose the reader just when you want them to continue. Make sure your site is user friendly.
• Pictures - Pictures and other graphics should support your basic theme and message, and they are a cheap and easy way to add pizazz to your site. You can purchase stock photos and clipart en masse on CD, or download them from any of a number of sites. Microsoft itself has a terrific site for this - Microsoft Clipart - with easily downloaded photos and art you can get for free, but you can also use your own digital art and photos. The main consideration is that is fits with the rest of your site.

 Examples of What Your Colleagues are Doing

Northwest Elementary School in Ankeny, Iowa has a site that's simple and easy to use, yet does a good job of telling everyone a lot about what's going on. Check out the individual classroom sites. All very nicely done..

W. A. Bess Elementary in Gastonia, NC has a less effective site, but one with an interesting layout. The site is not very current and many of the teachers have not updated in quite some time. Nonetheless, you might find something you like. Or something you don't - you learn either way.

Hanes Magnet School in Winston-Salem, NC has an exceptional web site that reflect the design of the district's site. All kinds of classroom information, current student projects, initiatives, this site is very professionally done and really gets the job done. Kudos!



Reference:

Baker, E.A. (2008). Creating valuable class web sites. Learning and Leading with Technology, 35(7), 18-21