Learning and Leading - March/April 2013

BUYER’Sguide

Aclassroom webpage serves as a tangible representation of student effort and classroom experiences. Teachers can share student artwork and writing, document field trips and community activities, and share recorded class presentations and dramatic performances.

The audience is usually limited to students and faculty of a school district as well as relatives and friends of students. Most educators are not interested in attracting as many viewers as possible, so advertising and search engine optimization are not factors when choosing a web editor. Privacy and security can be concerns, however, and password protection is available.

Quick and Easy Options

There is a continuum of possibilities for webpage creation. To create a website easily and quickly, without using HTML code, the best option is a “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) application. You will be able to create text, import images, and add links using professionally designed templates. Most tools allow offline editing so you do not have to connect to the internet until you publish your site. Many editors add flexibility in terms of customizing the templates, resizing and moving images around, and adding features, such as widgets to count visitors. Sandvox and Rapid Weaver fall into this category.

More Powerful Applications

On the other end of the continuum
are raw HTML editors. They are
good choices for more advanced
users who are familiar with HTML
coding and want a high level of
flexibility. In this list, Dream Weaver
and WordPress offer the most com-
prehensive range of options, with
HTML coding if desired. WordPress
is an open source application with
almost 60 million sites. There is
no initial cost and a vast array of
plugins, themes, and sophisticated
features. You can also host your site
at WordPress.com.