Suggestions for VCSD website
Purpose of the Website-
Website Look
* Technical:
o Frames
o Flash buttons
o Uniformity of Links (look)
o Elementary Server permits access to directory listing - not good - this can
give a hacker a lead-in (i.e. ves.neric.org/fitz)
* Overall:
o Easy on the Eyes - no sharp contrasting colors
o Easy to find what you’re looking for
o Uniformity of Look - so that viewer can find what they’re looking for
o 3 Clicks to ANY page!
o Website Search Engine (suggest Atomz ($0 - over 500 pages:
$10,000.00/year) if fewer than 500 pages - Picosearch if more ($249/year))
Redundant information
* Community Links
* Parent Links
Overall Website Directory Structure
* This should be logical and easy to navigate. The current structure is sometimes
understandable, sometimes confusing
* Images should be in “sub-directories” of parent pages
* General Shared files should be in a global shared sub-directory - Building shared files
should be in a shared sub-directory under the building sub-directory.
* Suggest a “links page” that contains the vast majority of the external links for the
site (this suggestion is solely to aid in maintaining the webmaster’s sanity!)
Files
* Standardized nomenclature
o htm or html - the webmaster may wish to consider using shtml
o Avoid “spaces” in filenames (i.e. “District Office” which is construed to be
“District%20Office”
o The server is set (vcsd.neric.org) that index.html is the default page on any
directory - that should be the lead-in page for that subdirectory (i.e. not
District_home.htm)
o ALL files must have the suffix (i.e. gif, jpg, jpeg, png, etc.);
* Avoid using BMP, TIFF files for graphics - these generally are large, uncompressed
files;
* Graphics must be resized (using a graphics program such as Paint Shop Pro,
Macromedia Fireworks, Photoshop, etc. prior to use on the website - DO NOT use the
sizing on a web page design software instead - it does not resize the picture, it just
makes it look smaller but the filesize remains the same!
* Avoid copying files from one directory to another. Link to the original file/graphic if
that’s the one you want to use. You may want to download it to your computer for
archival purposes should you fear that it may someday disappear
* With the exception of shared files, all images should contain the name of the parent
web page, and should be located in an “images” sub-directory
Page Structure
Be aware that:
* FrontPage adds unnecessary information to pages (smaller filesize downloads faster!)
* FrontPage adds unnecessary directories to websites (these were cleaned out on the
vcsd.neric.org site) (see below - using FTP upload instead of http upload)
* Word Processors should never be used to develop pages - they can double or triple
the size of a webpage without adding any relevant substance to the page
* Layers should only be used for effects on multiple graphics (being layered on top of
one another) - it should not be used for general purpose - some browsers do not
interpret layers well.
Uploads:
* Use FTP not HTTP - FrontPage gives you the option, choose FTP. WS_FTP or Cute
FTP are good choices, also Macromedia Dreamweaver does FTP uploads.
* When uploading, only upload to the specified directory the files that you know have
been added or changed (rely on what you know you changed, don’t rely on
FrontPage to tell you, it modifies the date on ALL dependent files regardless of
status).
* Uploads should be to a mirror site, not the final location on the vcsd.neric.org server
- Reasons:
o Too many people having access to the server leads to nobody having the total
site - problem should site be accidentally wiped;
o One individual may accidentally over-write or delete another individual’s
page(s) or file(s);
o Potential risk of one individual’s computer becoming infected and a hacker
gaining access to the username and password for the site. That hacker could
then take control of the server and destroy not only the district’s site but any
other sites on that server (I’ve been involved in this scenario - its not pretty).
Things to remember in developing a website:
Generally:
* Operating Systems:
o Apple Operating Systems (Mac OS and OS X) account for approximately 5% -
15% of the viewers of websites
o Windows XP is about 40%, Windows 98 is about 23%, Windows 2000 is about
20%
* Browsers:
o Internet Explorer 6.x accounts for about 60% of the browsers
o Internet Explorer 5.x accounts for about 20% of the browsers
o AOL ~ 5%
o Netscape & Mozilla ~ 6%
o Opera ~2%
* Screen Resolutions
o 800 x 600 is about 50%
o 1024 x 768 is about 40%
* Color Depth:
o 16.7M ~ 60%
o 65K ~ 35%