• Best Practices for your Website
     
    "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Dave Long

    Fonts, Sizes, and Colors
    • It's best to use sans serif fonts such as: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Trebuchet, Times New Roman
    • We recommend using one of the following font sizes: 10pt (Schoolwires Editor size 2) or 12pt (Schoolwires Editor size 3)
    • Black is the preferred text color. Avoid red, green, and yellow as color blind people will have difficulty seeing/reading the text.
    • Avoid using flashing/scrolling text as this can be an annoyance to your viewers and they may not read all content on your page.
    Links and Attachments
    • Links to outside web pages and files should open in a new window, and be for informational or instructional purposes.

    • Verify that links outsite your webpages are functioning, current, and appropriate in nature.

    • Links should be descriptive (so that 'web readers' can pick up all the information) and put into context. Don't use "click here" to instruct a user where to click. For example:
         º Don't: Click here for a complete listing of upcoming events
         º Do: Upcoming Events

    • Do ensure all text links have some visual cue that they are links. Whatever formatting you choose should be off limits for anything else on the site. If you use a shade of blue for links, your unlinked text or headers should never use this color.

    • Consider using PDF format when posting attachments. This will make it less likely that the content of your documents will be altered.
    Images
    • Avoid animated images as they can be a distraction from the content on the page.
    • .jpg and .gif are preferred (bitmap and .png are not always recognized)
    • Resize photos either prior to uploading them or in the upload proces to avoid distortion.
    • Avoid background colors and images on pages. If background colors are used maintain high contrast between background colors and font for improved readability.