We all have a pretty intuitive understanding of what makes a website good or bad, but it becomes far more difficult to tell when you’re the one designing it. To help remove the tunnel vision of your assignment-turned-passion-project, here are six must-have elements for your school website.
A Healthy Balance
Designing websites for schools needs two things: a unique design and an easily navigable design. These leave the best first impression with visitors. If we had to favour one, it’d be navigability – there’s nothing worse than feeling lost in the labyrinths of ugly hyperlinks and messy data. Talk with website designers, such as www.fsedesign.co.uk/websites-for-schools/, to get a good idea of how you can craft something unique yet accessible.
Mobile Formatting
Also, keep in mind how much of your audience will likely be checking your website out from their smartphone. A website that doesn’t cohere with mobile formatting is notoriously infuriating, so keeping different devices in mind is something to consider to avoid alienating audiences.
SEO
Using search engine optimisation for your school website will help draw eyes to the compelling and engaging designs you’ve come up with. This is slightly tangential, not fully controlled by your website, but it’s still worth looking into.
Smooth Loading
With everything you want to cram into your website, it’s important to practice restraint. Cramming can spike your loading times, which can deter audiences just as easily as poor designs. Keep the flashy animations brief, and try to lower file sizes where possible.
Informative Content
Once you’ve hooked your audience with the initial website design, keeping them there is the next challenge. Your content needs to be just as engaging, and this isn’t exclusive to blogs or newsletters – you can tell your stories through succinct photos and videos, too.
Streamlined
Remember, keep everything running smoothly. The website should load fast, be easy to navigate, and be succinctly organised. No one wants to read a wall of text about your school, so split it into bullet points, using headings and colour variation to signpost the important stuff.
