Many of our clients are mentioned in newspapers and magazine articles every day, but it’s rare to find an article which reviews and grades a client’s website. However, that’s exactly what happened this week, and we couldn’t be more pleased.
Our recent website redesign for the Piedmont School District website has garnered a great review from Ben Felder, News Editor, at Piedmonttoday.com. You can read the full article here: http://www.piedmonttoday.com/opinion/give-me-five-school-district%E2%80%99s-new-website/
Felder highlights 5 major points of the redesign in his article. I thought he made some terrific notations, and I wanted to share our professional thought process which created this unique web design. His (paraphrased) points are headlined in bold. My comments are in italics.
User Friendly: As one of the biggest attractors of new residents to Piedmont, the school district’s website is often the first place potential Piedmont parents go to find more information.
As web designers, ease of use becomes more challenging as the amount and diversity of information increases. We chose this style of navigation and information layout to increase ease and access for the growing school district.
Connection and familiarity: The ability to put a face with a name is huge in today’s Facebook world.
The website features profiles of staff and administration, including photos of their Board of education. All of these web features serve to place a face with a name, and create the sense of true community Piedmont has always been known for.
News and information: If the district can maintain a regular schedule of updates it will attract parents and residents to regularly log on to the new site, meaning it will become a great source for district news and information.
In fact, with Back40’s exclusive Javelin Content Management System, the Piedmont Schools website administrator has the ability to update all parts of their website through Javelin CMS. By creating user permissions, one website administrator can easily tailor access to multiple individuals on a per page basis. This allows the website to be updated easily and regularly by multiple administrators. For example, a parent can securely update the parent resources area, while a school board member can update the board meeting schedule -all simultaneously.
Encourage more online usage: The new site will also allow the district to encourage more parents, students and employees to take advantage of the online tools available.
The web is one of the easiest ways for parents and students to access information and keep up to date. By building a useful website for the school district, we hope the flow of information helps everyone in the Piedmont School District – from athletic schedules, to band, and vocal music, there’s always something exciting going on.
The Look: You can’t underestimate good design and the district’s new website has definitely taken a step forward in its look.
We certainly enjoy this part of the process. We feel that a professional look and feel to web interfaces adds credibility to the online presence. Guiding Piedmont to go with a custom-designed website exclusively for their district certainly sets the tone for a great future to come.
Our work with Oklahoma schools and education websites continues. Whether it’s elementary, high school, or college – we treat them all with the same attention to detail, and we’re honored by Mr. Felder’s review. For more information about our custom web design services, please contact JR Ross at 405-478-4080.
To view more of our Education Website Portfolio:
ACM@UCO http://www.acm-uco.com/
Gordon Cooper Technology Center http://gctech.org/
Platt College http://www.plattcollege.org/
Oklahoma Health Academy http://www.oha.edu/
OU College of Medicine http://imrp.ouhsc.edu/
Chickasha Public School Foundation http://www.chickasha4kids.com/
Bethel Public Schools http://www.bethel.k12.ok.us/district/
Edmond Fine Arts Institute http://www.edmondfinearts.com/
Edmond Santa Fe High School Band http://www.sfhsband.net/
Shawnee High School Band http://www.shawneeband.org/
UCO Sigma Kappa http://www.ucosigmakappa.com/