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Managing your School Website: Guidelines & Tips for HISD Campus Websites
More parents are relying on their mobile phones and/or tablets to access the web, including information about their children’s schools. In response, HISD is introducing new mobile-friendly school websites across the district to ensure a quality experience, regardless of screen size.
Your school’s website will be moved to a mobile-friendly template soon. Before this time, we ask that you update your website, and remove/hide out-of-date information. Be sure to update:
Content on your school’s front page Contact information Staff directories Links to news and announcements Your school’s attendance boundary map
We believe that the website redesign will help make your website more effective and engaging. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns. We look forward to working with you in the coming weeks.
GETTING STARTED
What is Schoolwires? Schoolwires is a content management system that will allow your school to create a robust public site that not only represents your school professionally but also provides numerous tools to help maximize your web presence. Schoolwires allows you to easily manage staff directories, create blogs, and efficiently maintain school calendars. How do I get an account? Send an email to [email protected] with Requesting a Schoolwires Account as your subject. If you are requesting full access to a school’s website please Cc the principal of that school to verify your request. If you need access to only a section of the website, please send us the url to that page.
MANAGING YOUR WEBSITE Using Site Manager — This is the interface you access to edit your website. If you have an Schoolwires account and have access to any portion of a HISD’s website, you will see Site Manager at the top of the website once you login. What you see within Site Manager depends on your editing and/or extended administrative privileges. What are apps? Apps are the content building blocks of any Schoolwires page. A Schoolwires page may include one or more apps. You can create and edit apps, as well as share them with other users. Apps include, but are not limited to, a Flex App, a Calendar App, a Photo Gallery App, a Headlines & Features App, an Article Library App, a Link Library App, and a File Library App. Apps are placed in Columns on a Page Layout. What different kinds of apps should I use? Best Apps for your Homepages are:
o Announcements App — post brief messages on your homepage. You might use an Announcement App to post information about upcoming field trips, Board of Education meetings, testing schedules, or weather delays and cancellations — items intended to display for a short period of time.
o Flex Editor App — include links, pictures, or files with your information. The most common use of the Flex Editor App on the homepage is to display a welcome message for visitors to your website. You should limit the content within your flex app if you are using it on your homepage.
o Headlines & Features App — link to articles from your homepage. These tend to be longer than announcements and remain on your website for a longer period. You might use a headlines app to share a video of a school event.
o Site Shortcuts App — create shortcuts to other pages on your website or even to other websites or files. You might link to school lunch menus, sports schedules, or your student information system. Find out what your visitors are calling about and searching for, and add it to your site shortcuts app.
o Upcoming Events App — automatically displays events from the associated calendar that are within the parameters you set for the number of events to display and the number of days of events in the future to display on the page.
What are shared apps?
Shared apps are apps created and shared with others. Anyone can create a shared app. Oftentimes the district will create an app and share it with all schools. This is done to keep certain content and information consistent and easily managed by the district. Only the owner and anyone given editing privileges can edit a Shared App.
ORGANIZING CONTENT Header/Navigation
MyStart Bar: The top portion of each school website is called the MyStart Bar, which consists of: Site Map; District Home; Our Schools; Translate; My Account and the Search icon. This section is setup and controlled by the district.
Header: The header consists of the school’s logo, school’s name, school’s slogan (optional) and the district-wide channels: Home; About Us; Academics; Activities; Get Involved, and Resources. The channel names must not be renamed or reordered.
Photo Gallery: The next section is the homepage photo gallery. The photo dimensions are 999 x 430 pixels. Each photo must be resized to these dimensions before uploading to the homepage photo gallery. Each photo can link to more content, if necessary. Limit this gallery to five photos.
Global Icons: These global icons are setup by the district. They are check grades, meals, bus schedules, calendar, and contact. This section is setup by the district and must not be altered.
Main Content: The main content on the homepage consists of multiple Schoolwires apps. The district will setup each schools website with the following apps. The schools subsite directors can add other apps as needed.
School News — headlines & features app (managed by each school)
District News — headlines & features app (shared app managed by the district)
Welcome — flex app (managed by each school) Helpful Links — site shortcuts app (shared app managed by the district)
Upcoming Events — upcoming events app (populated by events from the district & school calendars)
Footer: The bottom portion of the website is the footer. The footer will have the same items as the header, along with additional information such as the school’s address, main phone number, fax number, and social-mediaicons. The social-media icons will link to your school’s social-mediapages or the district’s social-media pages.
MANDATORY ITEMS
MyStart Bar items and links must remain untouched Channels must not be renamed or reordered Global icons must not be renamed or reordered Links must not be altered District shared apps must remain on the schools homepage
BEST PRACTICES
Main content on the homepage should be balanced Limit vertical scrolling. Not everything belongs on the homepage. Use consistent image size for apps such as headlines & features Hide blank sections and pages Lorem Ipsum (dummy text) is never acceptable on a live page Broken images should be fixed Limit the homepage photo gallery to five photos Section Content (refer to WEBSITE CONTENT TO BE PROVIDED BY SCHOOLS below)
RESOURCES (sample school websites, tip sheets, etc.)
Fondren Elementary School - http://www.houstonisd.org/fondrenES Schoolwires Guide & Helpcards Social Media Translations Department Section Workspace Tutorial WYSIWYG Editor Tutorial HISD Photo Archives
Outline of Content for School Websites as of 9-17-15* Content highlighted in yellow is the responsibility of each school’s webmaster.
Blue is from the district. 1. Home Page
o Photo gallery of up to five photos, which must be horizontal images and sized to 430
x 900
o School News: announcements, stories, school newsletter (if you have one)
o District News
o Principal’s name, phone number, and email plus link to Principal’s Page with
welcome message and photo
o School newsletter (if you have one)
o Social media feed, if you have Twitter or Facebook accounts
o Upcoming Events: add school events to district calendar
2. About Us
3. School Information
o About [your school]
o History
o Mission statement, vision, creed, motto, etc.
o “Contact Us” -- update as needed
o Principal’s Page: welcome from the principal, photo, and principal’s bio
o Staff Directory – district will post initially, but you will need to update as needed
o School Profile
o How to Enroll
o Attendance Boundary Map
o Map and Directions
4. Academics
o Library Services
o Link to your school’s library
o Magnet
o IB, Vanguard/GT, Futures Academies, STEM, etc.
5. Programs o Dual Language program, if applicable
o Linked Learning programs, if applicable
6. Resources o Grading and report cards
o STAAR/EOC
o Promotion Standards
o Global Graduate
o Endorsements (high schools only)
o What are endorsements?
o Endorsements offered at your school
o Naviance o Graduation Labs, if you have them o High Frequency Word Evaluation (elementary schools only)
o Hour of Code
7. Digital Resources 8. Learning Resources: o Curriculum and Instruction
o Summer School o Links to learning resources for your students
9. Activities
o After-school programs
o Athletics
o Band
o UIL
o Clubs
10. Get Involved
o How to get involved
o Volunteer in Public Schools (VIPS)
Overview
Register for VIPS
o PTO/PTA
How to Start a Parent Organization Information on your school’s parent organization
Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) o [Read Houston Read] (from district)
SDMC
11. Resources
12. Login to the HUB
o Student Resources
o Login to the HUB o Code of Conduct
District Code of Conduct
o Code of Conduct, if your school has its own o Dress code o School supplies o PowerUp fees (high schools only) o Bell schedule (for your school) and Attendance Requirements
o Parent Resources
o Login to the HUB
o Family and Community Engagement (FACE)
Community Resources Guide
Academic Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT)
o Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY)
o Family Learning Academy
o Prepay School Meals
o Breakfast and Lunch Menus
o Transportation
o Check Grades: Parent Student Connect
o Forms
Intro with link to Frequently Requested Forms
Student Media Consent and Release Form -- English
Student Media Consent and Release Form – Spanish
Free & Reduced Meals
Student Acceptable Use Policy
Student Laptop Loan Agreement – English (high schools only)
Student Laptop Loan Agreement – Spanish (high schools only)
Athletics
o Parent Rights and Responsibilities
o Parent resources and links particular to your school
o Teacher Resources
o Login to the HUB
o Teacher Appraisal and Development System (TADS)
o Employee Portal
o PowerUp
Student Acceptable Use Policy
Student Laptop Loan Agreement – English (high schools only)
Student Laptop Loan Agreement – Spanish (high schools only)
o Professional Support and Development (e-TRAIN)
o Add anything particular to your school
o Alumni Resources HISD Alumni Associations
Add a link for your alumni association, if applicable Obtaining a Copy of Your Diploma or Transcript o Distinguished HISD alumni, if applicable
*May be updated without notice
