5 Ways to Simplify your Webpage

"Five Steps to an Accessible Classroom Website" by Linda Amundson is a great article explaining how and why we should simplify our teacher webpages. Being able to communicate with ALL of our students and their parents is extremely important. When we have students of various backgrounds, we must make sure they can access the same resources for the class as all the other students.

First, the website must be organized for easy navigation. Amundson stresses the use of headers for all sections of the webpage. Simple headers and following a uniform layout throughout the entire site helps people navigate that may have a hard time seeing the page, are not native English speakers, or those with older computers that may not have up to date features.

Outdated computer. image from http://www.steamboatsmyhome.com/blog/recycle-cleanup-events-in-steamboat-spring-may-21-2011-computers-monitor-tvs-etc/

Another main accessibility tip is to provide a textual explanation for all graphics, images, audio, and video. Amundson highly recommends that your website provide all the information the reader will need without relying on images or video to instruct or enrich them. Although these are excellent additions, not all of our students' home computers may have the ability to view these items, or they may not be as clear or understandable to them as it is to us. Being able to explain such additions can be beneficial to all readers of our webpages. Simple text that makes sense is also crucial for effective communication to all readers. We want to make sure we present the information as efficiently as possible. It is also suggested that the site be able to be navigated without a mouse, using the Tab key and minimizing the use of a horizontal scroll bar. A web verifier can evaluate the accessibility of your webpage and let you know what needs to be simplified.

I think these are all great tips to keep in mind when making a webpage for our students and their parents to view and use regularly. Especially in California, our students will come from all walks of life and have a wide range of technology and technology literacy at home. We want to make sure everyone feels like they are effectively involved and well informed about us as teachers and what is going on in their childs' classroom and with their progress.