The Good, the Bad, and the Weebly: School Web Site Examples

I read over the sandbox requirements for this week's lessons on school websites, and I enlisted my daughter's help on finding website examples that really caught her eye (disclaimer:  she has just finished 7th grade, so she considers herself to be a good judge of websites for what would appeal to a middle school audience).  We clicked through a few examples until we found some that grabbed our interest.  Before we started looking, I went through the protocol that I read in the blog post "5 Things Every School Website Should Have" on  "The Adventures of Library Girl":  (1) focus on teaching; (2) examples of student work; (3) opportunities for participation; (4) evolving resources; and (5) flavor! (source)

Our top picks:

Wellesley Middle School (click here to visit)

• Videos:  Embedded videos were immediately seen when I opened the site.  I think that would draw the attention of middle school students.  
• Color choices:  solid white background is simple and clean.  The bright red text box at the top of the screen immediately identifies the school's name.  The color combination of gray, white, and red is classic and timeless.
• Toolbar:  Extensive toolbar options across the top of the screen were easy to navigate and gave the user plenty of options for investigating the site.  My daughter especially appreciated the summer reading list.  The "extras" on the website allow students to use it during the summer months as well as during the school year.
• Images:  Library calendar and hours were identifiable at the bottom of the main page because of their large images.  It was very easy to find important information (hours, times, people, contact info, etc.) on this page.

Bailey Middle School (click here to visit)

• Design:  Dark background is a modern "wood" design and really lets the information/text/images "pop" off the screen.  Simple color scheme of charcoal gray/white/blue is modern and clean.
• Tweet feed:  I immediately saw the Tweet feed in the middle of the screen and LOVE that feature!  What a great way to keep up with the activities and messages from the library.  The use of a twitter account also tells me that this is a librarian who keeps up with the technology available to her.
• Images/graphics:  The "AR" stats on the teal background grabbed my attention as well.  It gives immediate feedback on the Accelerated Reader program and how well it is implemented in that school.
• Video:  Embedded video about banned books (made by the author of "Captain Underpants" series) would probably be viewed by many visitors to the site because of the content matter and author choice.  I like that the librarian doesn't seem to shy away from controversial topics, such as censorship.

Based on what I saw while doing my search on the internet, I will probably be using Weebly to make my school library website.  It seems very "user friendly" and I like the color schemes and formats that are offered.  I also like that it will be easy to add additional features, such as video clips, pod casts, tool bars, images, graphics, and tweet feeds.