!Welcome  .This popplet was created to inspire teachers to use technology in the classroom. Part of teaching is being open to things that are new and inviting,things that motivate and engage, things that will help learners at all ability levels to be a part of the  environment in which they live  !Using technology will make your teaching and learning more motivating,challenging, fun and time saving .Are you considering creating a website for your school?  That’s really great  It takes quite a bit of work, but the rewards are great .This page explains how I built and designed my website .The following tips and suggestions come from my personal experience designing and maintainig a school website  .First of all, be forwarned that I'm not a "technie" type person I knew absolutely nothing but was able to teach myself all about it using the internet and  .making mistakes and learning from them. There are also tutorials on the web you could use .What I know I've learned the hard way-trial and error,mostly error, researching the net Creating a web site is a rewarding experience for both students and educators .As I look back over the two years of teaching with a school site I am amazed at just how far we have come .The idea of creating the school English site came in June 2008   ?How to get started .The most important thing is PLANNING .In order to create a good  website, you need to make a plan of what  objectives and contents you want on your pages              .Make a draft  before starting the actual building your website Have an IDEA of what you want before you begin                     :You should first ask yourself the following questions                          ?What purpose and goal do you have for your website                              ? Will it be a place for your pupils to interact                   ?Will it be a teacher resource site   ?Do you want a website to keep parents informed                      ?Do you want a big or a small website      ?How regularly will the site be updated       .Once you have an idea of what you want,it will save you a lot of hours and give the right  direction   Clipart and Graphics  !What makes a website come to life? The clipart and graphics of course .In order to build my webpages, I needed clipart, graphics, and backgrounds to decorate the pages ?Where did I get  graphics from .There are many wonderful graphics websites with school related clipart on the net  .You can use free graphics (linkware), or you can pay for them  Just remember to ALWAYS give graphic artists credit on EVERY page and to read and abide by their terms carefully .I have purchased my website graphics from Graphic Garden   However, there are many other places that you can purchase graphics from.  Here are a few   Daisy Dreams Cute Colors Amreta's Graphics Whispy Hollow Thistle Girl Designs   :But there are also some great sites that have free graphics as well – check these out Cute Colors Sno's Studio School Icons Club Country Clipart by Lisa   ?What is a linkware .A lot of the graphics designers are no longer providing linkware graphics  .Linkware means providing a link back to the site from where a graphic was downloaded .They're no longer providing these graphics because of graphics abuse .If you don't provide the correct link you are not abiding by the terms of use of the creator .All linkware graphics should be downloaded  first to your hard drive and then uploaded to your own server -Please keep in mind before you start adding graphics to your page !All images on the web are copyrighted Provide a link back to the artist's page on the every page where you used their graphic  !Respect copyright laws  .Please refer to this site R.I.G.H.T.S for more information on copyrights  or to this site to read about Copyright Protection  !Don't use graphics from other sites unless you have permission     Tip 1 .Start slowly! Rome wasn't built in one day! My advice is start slowly and don't expect too much right away Tip 2 .Don't have broken links! Check your links frequently and make sure they are working properly Tip 3 !Don't use a lot of different fonts on the same page Tip 4 .Before  downloading pictures and clipart from the net, make a note of who the graphics belong to  .It is very frustrating to finally decide on the graphics to use,only to find out that you don't know who created it Tip 5   .Don't overload your webpages with animations! Remember, however, that more is not always better Tip 6 Make your page readable! It's hard to read light text on a light background,or dark text on a dark background Tip 7 .Don't play annoying music! The main reason is that your visitor's taste in music is unlikely to be the same as yours  .If you decide to have music on your site give the visitor the option of turning the music on or off Tip 8 .Make your website interactive. Include guestbooks, e-mail contact, surveys, games   Tip 9 .Make your website easy to navigate.You should provide a way for users to get back to your home page quickly Tip 10 !Don't underline words if they're not links On the web, something that's underlined is supposed to be a link.  If you underline , readers will be annoyed when they try to click those underlined words only to discover that they're not really links.  (.If you want to emphasize something, use italics instead (or boldface, or another color Tip 11 ....Include an "About the Teacher"page. Write the general information about yourself: hobbies,interests,favorites .Give your pupils a chance to know you better Tip 12 . Include your pupils' work! Show their writing, projects and artwork Tip 13 .Obtain permission to publish children pfotos on your school site Links :This site provides wonderful information on building and designing class webpages Lisa Explains It All    How to use panda?- tutorial  !I hope these tips have helped you   .It takes many, many hours to build a website but once you are done, maintaining it is quite easy                             !Good Luck With Your Website              Home