by John Wilson
1. Charles Brown Middle School Masachusetts
The site starts out with a relative straightforward page. Not a lot of information on the front page, but there is a frame to the left that contains a clickable index to the rest of the school. That is where continuity ends. It seems each department or area is a site unto itself. The index does not repeat itself on the inside pages. Some sections seem to be updated frequently, but others were last updated in 97'. I did like some of the features but it gave me a sense that there is not a lot of unity at this school.
2. Chapparal NMiddle School - Tucson Arizona
Very basic page. Not very interesting . Doesn't tell anything about the school, but has links to other information about the city.
3. Bernardo Heights Middle School - San Diego
Attractive and interesting site. Shared borders, Good use of color. I also liked the index on the right of each sub page. The only thing that I found bothersome was the animated gif that twirls on each page.
4. Bill Reed Middle School - Colorado
The animated gif explodes right on the front page and continues forever. There is a frame with tiny type. If they would have bumped up the size of the font it would have been more readable. The directory has a red background and the title is . . . red. I didn't even notice it. A better contrast in the background and font would have helped. Most of the content seems like someone cut and pasted from the school handbook. No pictures, 1 graphic, real boring.
The front page serves as a link to other sub pages, using an index. There is actuall more information on the page, but you would not think to look for it. The rest of the site consists of pages that are maintained by individual departments and teachers. No continuity of design or purpose. Some have been updated but most contain old information and dead links.
6. Cucamonga Middle School - California
How can you miss when you start with a name like "Cucamonga". The front page is attractive and informative with some general info about the school. They use a shared border as an index on the left of each page. It seems to be updated throughout for this year, but the newsletter requires Adobe Acrobat. I think it would be better if they just updated the newsletter page every 2 weeks.
Great site - good use of an index on the front page. The site seems to be updated frequently. Links to different subgects/departments. Nice display of student work.
8. Burley Middle School - Great Britain
The site gives some good information about the community and thye school population, but seems light on information about curricular areas. There is some continuity of design on some of the site, but it does break down in the design on some of the pages. They do make a good effort at keeping the site updated.
9. Toowoomba Prep School - Austrailia
What an excellent site this is. Shared borders, good use of color, excellent use of design elements. Highly informative of all activities, services, and curriculum. They did a great job, it almost seems like the site was done by a professional design company. Guess what, it is. The school is a private school and obviously a lot of money is involved. But we should also realize that creativity and excellence are not just in the fields of professional design.
10. American Institute of Montery
There is nothing quite like having a twirling logo throughout your site. Visually I think it really distracts the reader. As far as these things go, I think we should take Barney Fife's advice and just "Nip it in the bud". I think the main point of using these things is just to say, "Look what I can do" AS for the rest of the site, They do make excellent use of color and design elements. The format of their shared borders is attractive and easy to use. I also liked it that they offer the site in two different languages.