Accessibility
A combination of good sense, policy and more recently legislation, has focused web designers on the need for accessible websites.
...read more about accessibility
Designing for faster page access
Remember that not everyone will access your site on fast or broadband connections and that no one likes to wait for pages to download. It may be that some potential readers are accessing on slower connections, or from mobile devices. Smaller page file sizes mean faster downloads. We use cascading style sheets (CSS) when we design websites, this makes smaller file sizes and gives us the opportunity to make changes to the look of a page without too much difficulty.
Browser support
It is good practice to ensure that your website is readable through a range of browsers. We test out websites using a range of browsers and design them using CSS which is supported by all the major web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape and Opera.
Photographs
Keep photo sizes small and give readers the option of not downloading or viewing images. Photo galleries allow the choice as to whether or not to view. Video or audio clips make large files and users should be given the option before downloading – and ideally there should be an alternative. Photographs can bring a school website to life. Pictures that show children actively involved in learning are worth a thousand words. It is your opportunity to show happy, engaged students using the facilities of which schools are rightly proud. Displays of children’s work can be published. Special events - from assemblies to sports days - add life and colour to a school website
...read more about photos and privacy
Publishing large documents
Where a larger document is published (a handbook of newsletter for example)The use of Portable Document Format (pdf) documents is recommended as it allow you to publish with a relatively small file size at the same time as guaranteeing that users will see the document as you intended.
Using flash
Flash should be used sparingly. Remember that although flash sites are very popular and can be very attractive they do have drawbacks. They may be slow to load and search engines have difficulty classifying flash pages – they are looking for relevant text. Your flash site may be missed totally. Flash introductions are not a good idea for these reasons.
