| Southern Local School District |
| Administrative Guidelines |
7540.02 - WEB-PAGE SPECIFICATIONS
These guidelines and AG 5723 and AG 7540 and Form 7540.03 F1, Form 7540.04 F1, and Form 7540 F4 will apply to all web pages hosted on the Board's servers, whether created by schools, departments, staff, students, or other persons. The Superintendent or his/her designee retains final editorial authority over all content placed on the Board's servers and displayed on the Board's web site. The Superintendent or his/her designee has the right to remove pages or links from any web page based upon his/her determination of inappropriate content.
The District's web site(s) is/are intended to serve as instructional, communication, and public relations tools. The web pages aim to provide timely, supportive and educational information to the students, staff and school community. The web site(s) are created in order to provide easy access to a wide variety of rich media and educational resources that directly support student achievement, professional development, and organizational effectiveness. While not all web pages can be made totally accessible, the District will strive, to the extent technologically and economically feasible, to make its web site(s) as accessible as possible by emphasizing content and providing information on web pages designed with accessibility in mind. Individuals responsible for designing, developing and producing web pages are expected to employ universal design principles to create web sites that allow persons with the disabilities identified at the end of this document to access the information and content on the District's web site. By following the web page design criteria set forth below, the designers and authors of the District's web site can improve the opportunities for persons with disabilities to access the information and content contained on the web pages that make up the District's web site(s).
First Page of the School Building Web Site(s)
The first page of individual school's web site(s) should contain:
| A. | the index or table of contents for the site; | |
| B. | contact information, including the school's name, address, and phone number, the name of the building principal, and a map/directions to the building; | |
| C. | the webmaster and e-mail address of the person responsible for the site; | |
| D. | a date when the page was last updated or modified; | |
| E. | index.html; | |
| F. | a link to the Board's web site; | |
| G. | identification of (or a link to) the Board's agent to receive notification of claimed copyright infringement (including name, mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address); | |
| H. | links to appropriate disclaimers. |
Organization of Site Structure
| A. | Use a large-scale, commonly understood navigation scheme (i.e., the overall plan or file structure should provide quick access to information and help the user understand how the information is organized). It is recommended that a storyboard be used to plan the web site. | |
| B. | Each page should be designed with the audience and goal in mind. | |
| C. | Maintain a simple, consistent page layout. A basic page format should be used, e.g. use the same background, locate navigation tools in the same place on the page, have consistent link appearance, and have consistent font size and type. Be consistent on all pages. | |
| D. | The title bar should include the school name in the <title> tag of each HTML document. | |
| E. | Limit page length, keep the HTML documents as small as possible. | |
| F. | The web site may include areas such as staff information, student projects, calendar, school information and mission statement, technology plan, and geographical information. | |
| G. | There should be a "mail to" link that provides a means of feedback on all main pages. | |
| H. | Avoid parallel columns. (Though newer screen readers can now handle columns, older voice output systems read across the screen and jump from column to column.) | |
| I. | Design pages so that users do not have to scroll form left to right to see the entire page. |
Keep Your Web Site Current
| A. | Pages should be checked regularly to verify that links are working and meet Board standards. Check to make sure all internal and external links work properly. | |
| B. | Remove expired date-related items. | |
| C. | Maintain and update files by removing unneeded or outdated files. |
Grammar and Spelling
| A. | All pages should be grammatically correct. | |
| B. | All words should be spelled correctly - web pages should be spell checked. |
Navigation Tools
Position navigational aids throughout documents and document groups. For example, all pages should include a "back to" main menu in order to provide a link back to the web-site index or home page, or a "skip to main content" link in the upper left corner that allows users to jump past repetitive navigation options.
Backgrounds
| A. | Keep backgrounds simple, and use high contrast to allow easy viewing of content. Light colors are better. Select backgrounds that make text easy to read. | |
| B. | Keep background tiles small. | |
| C. | Backgrounds should be in GIF format. | |
| D. | Re-use background images, pages will reload quicker and the user will be able to view your pages with ease. | |
| E. | Do not use a background to convey information. | |
| F. | Do not "name" your colors. Use the hexadecimal number for colored backgrounds. If using a tiled image, make the background color approximately the color of the tiled image. | |
| G. | Avoid low-contrast color combinations or colors that may not be recognized by lower-resolution screens. |
Intellectual Property
| A. | All web-site authors must follow applicable and existing intellectual property laws (copyright and trademark) pertaining to the use of text, images, video, audio/sounds, and hyperlinks to other web sites/pages. (see AG 2531) | |
| B. | The Board retains proprietary rights to web sites/pages hosted on its servers, absent written authorization to the contrary. |
Naming Structure
A. Use all lower-case letters for names of documents and graphics.
| B. | Do NOT use any spaces or other symbols in naming HTML documents or graphics. |
Graphics/Video/Audio
A. Smaller is better, images should be less than 50k.
| B. | Pictures need to be in GIF or JPEG format. | |
| C. | Always use width and height tags. |
D.
Provide short, simple, and meaningful alternative text for all graphical features. Use the "alt" tag to describe your picture for text-only browsers.| E. | Use GIF format for drawings and line art. | |
| F. | Use JPEG format for photographic color images. | |
| G. | Re-use graphics when appropriate. When graphics are re-used, they remain in the computer and will load more quickly onto a web page. | |
| H. | Avoid using flashing content, as it may cause seizures in susceptible users. | |
| I. | Provide transcripts, descriptions, or captions for video and audio files to assist persons with visual and hearing disabilities. |
HTML Standards
It is reasonable to expect that users will see your page using a variety of browsers including Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. It is recommended that you:
| A. | test web pages on a variety of browsers, including text-only browsers, and at a variety of screen resolutions to confirm the pages look right to the greatest number of users; | |
| B. | check your web site on multiple platforms, and test pages on small screens to confirm the pages do not bleed off the screen; | |
| C. | use standard, universally recognized HTML tags - Do Not use tags which are specific to one (1) browser; | |
| D. | use HTML syntax checkers to search your site for programming mistakes. |
Frames and Special Formats
Do not use frames pages. If you do and you link to external content, make sure you are not infringing on any copyrights associated with the web site/page to which you are linking. Additionally, if you use frames, make alternative versions of those pages that persons with disabilities can use. To make them accessible to screen reader devices, add meaningful titles to each frame so user can navigate between them easily.
Provide text-based delivery alternatives for as much information as possible. Do not rely solely on special formats (ex. Adobe Acrobat) that can be more difficult for text and voice systems to read.
Use of Student Names, Pictures, Original Work, and E-mail Addresses
The Board will allow the use of photographs of students, names of students, and displaying original work of students on web sites in accordance with the following guidelines:
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Identifiable photographs of students and/or student's first names may be placed on the Internet only after the appropriate release form has been signed by the parents or guardians. |
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Last names of students and students' e-mail addresses should never be used. |
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Original work by students such as art work, poetry, essays, performances, etc. may be placed on the web site only after the appropriate release form has been signed by the parents or guardians. |
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Prohibited Uses
Under no circumstances may a web page hosted on the Board's servers be used for commercial purposes, advertising, political lobbying, or to provide financial gains for any individual. Included in this prohibition is the fact no web pages contained on the District's web site may:
| A. | include statements or other items that support or oppose a candidate for public office; the investigation, prosecution, or recall of a public official; or passage of a tax levy or bond issue; | |
| B. | link to a web site of another organization if the other web site includes such a message; or | |
| C. | communicate information that supports or opposes any labor organization or any action by, on behalf of, or against any labor organization; | |
| D. | include defamatory, libelous, or obscene matter; | |
| E. | promote alcoholic beverages, cigarettes or other tobacco products, or any illegal product, service, or activity; | |
| F. | promote illegal discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, age or ancestry. |
Approved 12/27/05