Clarkstown Central (N.Y.) School District: www.ccsd.edu.THE CLARKSTOWN CENTRAL School District is located in a largely residential middle to upper class community in Rockland County, New York Rockland County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, 12 miles north-northwest of New York City. As of the 2000 census, the population was 286,753. The county seat is New City. The name comes from "rocky land," an early description of the area given by settlers. , 25 miles from New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , and has a population of more than 70,000 residents. DESIGN The Clarkstown district site is well designed, sleek and professional in appearance, and presents a simple layout effectively with easy-to-access information. The slideshow of photos at the left links to corresponding school pages, but it would be helpful to have a caption for each photo so users know what it depict's. The major purpose of the slideshow is unclear, however, and the pictures seem to have been selected randomly. Some of the linked pages are relatively bland and could be enhanced with better fonts, colors, graphics and page layouts :For the Wikipedia policy about articles layout, see Wikipedia:Guide to layout. Page layout is the part of graphic design that deals in the arrangement and style treatment of elements (content) on a page. . NAVIGATION The use of a consistent site menu at the top of the page is effective in making navigation easy and straightforward. In addition, the helpful site map lets users see all the menu links on a single page. Most of the school pages in the district share the same navigation format, but four schools adopted different layouts that make navigation inconsistent and confusing con·fuse v. con·fused, con·fus·ing, con·fus·es v.tr. 1. a. To cause to be unable to think with clarity or act with intelligence or understanding; throw off. b. . The school sites show varying degrees of development, and particular items may appear in menus to the left, the right or across the top. Navigation would be greatly enhanced through adding a search tool on the home page for quick access to specific topics. Many of the school sites offer search tools, however, but some do not work. QUALITY OF THE INTERACTION WITH THE USER The site provides amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. amounts of useful content for staff, students, parents and the community, organized logically for each target audience. Faculty and staff have easy access to the district e-mail system, downloadable payroll and benefits forms, and human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. contacts via a separate "For Staff" menu selection. There are no access provisions for disabled users, such as visually impaired staff, students and parents. In the "About Us" section, the "School District Policies" page links to documents in Microsoft Word A full-featured word processing program for Windows and the Macintosh from Microsoft. Included in the Microsoft application suite, it is a sophisticated program with rudimentary desktop publishing capabilities that has become the most widely used word processing application on the market. format, which are slow to load, difficult to read and awkward to scroll To continuously move forward, backward or sideways through the text and images on screen or within a window. Scrolling implies continuous and smooth movement, a line, character or pixel at a time, as if the data were on a paper scroll being rolled behind the screen. See auto scroll. through. Policies could be more simply presented on summary pages without these extra steps. SCHOOL TO HOME INTERACTION Parents will appreciate the "Parents" and "Contact Us" sections, with immediate access to calendars, news, downloadable forms and contact information. The site provides a superintendent's page, board of education updates and a useful e-mail link to the Webmaster A person responsible for the implementation of a Web site. Webmasters must be proficient in HTML as well as one or more scripting and interface languages such as JavaScript and Perl. They may also have experience with more than one type of Web server. See Web administrator and Webmistress. . Faculty e-mail addresses See Internet address. e-mail address - electronic mail address are not displayed for every school, though some, such as the high schools, list addresses and also provide convenient hotlinks for sending messages to each teacher. Those new to the district will value the clear maps and driving directions to the administration building and every school, accessible through the car icon in the top right corner. CREATIVE USE OF ONLINE TECHNOLOGIES The site makes little use of new Web 2.0 technologies, as every page is predominantly text with limited graphics. While a few of the schools have multimedia links, additional audio and video features would engage users and enhance the interactivity of the site. Improving the quality of photographs, adding captions and linking them more effectively would help immensely. The photos of school buildings are blurry blur v. blurred, blur·ring, blurs v.tr. 1. To make indistinct and hazy in outline or appearance; obscure. 2. To smear or stain; smudge. 3. and were taken from too far a distance. Similarly, classroom photos are too small to tell what they depict de·pict tr.v. de·pict·ed, de·pict·ing, de·picts 1. To represent in a picture or sculpture. 2. To represent in words; describe. See Synonyms at represent. , and in larger pictures students too often have their backs to the camera. UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION The "In the Spotlight" section on the home page is kept current. Since this is the location of important dates, there is no reason to have a redundant "District Events" page under the "News" tab, and the page is blank. The "Day in the Life ..." photo album may have been intended to be a regular feature, but it links to outdated photos and was evidently forgotten. The valuable "district report card" evaluation is included in many of the school sites, but it also needs to be prominent on the district site. Kurt O. Dyrli is a freelance writer based in Connecticut. To be considered for a district site review, contact Managing Editor Judy Hartnett at jhartnett@edmediagroup.com. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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