Jump In, The Water’s Fine!
The ACIE Newsletter, November 1998, Vol. 2, No. 1
by Greg Anderson, Technology Coordinator, Adams Spanish Immersion School, St. Paul, Minnesota
The development of a web site to promote your language program can be a daunting project. To most of us, the idea of developing something as technical as a web site seems very scary—what with those http:’s and www’s, all in the HTML language! And wasn’t Java something you used to drink?
At the Adams Spanish Immersion school in St. Paul, we (the
Adams technology committee and immersion teachers) decided
that we needed a web site to promote the school and answer
common questions about our program. The fear of authoring
a web site was something that we felt very acutely. In fact,
we still haven’t gotten over it completely— there’s
so much new to learn every day. However, that does not mean
that teachers can’t create simple and effective web
pages. Most Internet providers and web browsers today have
help to get you started, and many have step-by-step tutors.
Just look around a popular search engine page and you will
most likely find the topic “building a web site.”
In addition, there are many easy-to-use software programs
available at very little cost.
The biggest piece of advice that we can give, however, is
to have a plan before you start! We found that laying out
our plan on paper before even going to the computer was a
great time saver. Thus, we knew in advance what had to go
where and what had to link to what. It also made us realize
beforehand what we might otherwise have forgotten. Additionally,
advance planning gave us a good idea of what pictures, textual
information, and navigation tools we might need.
Another idea that helped the web site team was to examine
web pages that we liked or felt were easy to use. We decided
to avoid things (sound, large graphics) that would take a
long time to load and concentrate more on clarity and ease
of use.
The team also found that a lot of places on the web used “under-construction”
signs. We concluded that the process of web site design is
always under construction, based on our initial experience
alone. As you work on creating your web site, you will reach
the point where you want to try something you’ve seen
elsewhere or change the content of the page to meet users’
needs better. There is technology available to allow you to
make changes easily, any time you like (see resources below).
In essence, you will always be “under construction.”
With these two things in mind, you should be able to find
help in many different places. Most on-line services have
links which will assist or even walk you through the process.
If your district does not provide space for your web site,
many on-line services offer space—some, like Home Work
Heaven and Geocities (see below) are advertiser-supported,
and cost you nothing!
So if you have a desire to get into the fascinating world
of web site design, do a little research, make some plans,
and jump in! Although the topic looks deep, you’ll soon
be getting along swimmingly, with just a little basic and
easily attainable knowledge!
