District Web GUIDELINES

District Web GUIDELINES •

Click Glossary for Terminology.

Last Edited:08/01/05

Site Structure

General Guidelines

	Schools or departments should publish their Web pages through the District Web Server or through an on-site, locally-managed Web Server, rather than through a third party, such as a local Internet service provider (ISP). Content on third party servers may conflict with district standards and give rise to legal as well as ethical issues. Additional cost may also be incurred for use of third party servers as well.
	A standard File Transfer Protocol (FTP) application such as WS FTP or Fetch can easily be used. Click here for more about FTPing to the district web server and for links to download these free applications.
	Documents may be composed using HTML editors, such as FrontPage or DreamWeaver or any word processor that saves files as HTML files or as standard ASCII (text) files. The use of a major editor is strongly recommended for individuals who are learning to compose HTML documents.

Site Structure

Each school or department will be given a directory/folder on the District Web Server. The name of each directory will be an abbreviation of a specific school’s or department’s name. Only trained and authorized persons at each site will be given access to the server for uploading Web pages. These persons will be designated as official site Web Managers. Each site will be provided an account to access the server.

The root level of the directory should include the home page of the site along with subdirectories/folders for subjects, classes, projects, calendars, images, and other graphics . The filename for a home page of a site will be "index.htm", "index.html", or "index.asp". This file should be generated from a template file that will provide consistency and ease of navigation throughout a Department or a School website. Perhaps a standard district footer could also be incorporated into each site to allow ease of navigation to all district pages.

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Images

Images and Graphics may be composed in any program but should be submitted already converted to the GIF or JPG formats. Although many web browsers can view other graphic formats, these two formats are considered standards for all browsers. Reuse images wherever possible, not only within a single document, but also between documents. The browser will download the image once into cache and render it many times without requiring further downloads of the same image.

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External Links

One of the great things about the Web is the ability to link your document to additional information or resources using hypertext. However, nothing is more frustrating than clicking a link and getting a message that the document cannot be found or is under construction. You should check ALL links regularly. Delete or repair any broken links immediately. Keep in mind any external documents that you link to MUST meet the same content standards as delineated in this document.

It is also important to remember that frames, pop up windows, and targeting links to new windows will confuse many users by hampering bookmarks and eliminating the function of their browsers' BACK button. Don't continue to abide by early web master attempts to keep visitors "stuck in their site" by using frames or new windows.

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File Names

File names should consist of a descriptive file name followed by a period (dot) followed by an appropriate extension (e.g., homepage.htm). Please follow these conventions when naming files and folders (directories):

Correct:	FILES johndoe.htm JohnDoe.htm john_doe.htm johnd.htm	FOLDERS (DIRECTORIES) classfieldtrip ClassFieldTrip class_field_trip fldtrip
1. Never use spaces in file or folder names.	Incorrect: john doe.htm	Incorrect: Class Field Trip
2. Use only letters, numbers, underscores, or periods in file names. Use only letters, numbers, or underscores in folder names.	Incorrect: john/doe.htm john~doe.htm	NO periods in FOLDER names. Incorrect: field.trip field/trip field~trip
3. Never use more than one period in file names.	Incorrect: john.doe.htm johns.page.htm

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Content Standards
All work published on the District Web Server must be free of any spelling or grammatical errors.
District guidelines also apply to all student work published on the World Wide Web:

	Published documents must NOT include a child's phone number or full name, street address or box number, or names of other family members;
	Documents must NOT include any information which indicates the physical location of a student at a given time other than attendance at a particular school or participation in school activities;
	Documents must NOT contain objectionable material or point to objectionable material as stated in the Sarasota County FIRN/Internet Acceptable Use Policy;
	Student work may NOT be published on the World Wide Web without written permission from parents or guardians. (cf. Sarasota School District Parent/Guardian Permission Form for Publishing Student Work on the World Wide Web or Media Release Form)
	Student pages must be screened by a faculty member before they can be published and must comply with content standards delineated in this document.
	Documents must contain a current e-mail address of the designated school/department administrator or Web Manager;
	Documents must conform to school board policies, established school guidelines, and copyright laws. (cf. District Web Publishing Copyright Guidelines)
	Documents should note the date of the last revision and/or have an explicate reference to month and year of the content.
	Documents should include the district footer which will contain hyperlinks to: other schools in the district, the district home page, Internet information, copyright information, and the Web Administrator.

Note:	These guidelines vary from general concepts to very specific policy and procedures. In no way are they meant to cover every circumstance or instance of publishing to the World Wide Web or to our local Intranet. Hopefully they will be helpful in establishing quality useful content for students, staff, other members of the local community, and all users of the Internet.

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This site is a resource of the Sarasota County Public Schools
For any questions or comments about this page, please contact
Oscar Saliba, District Web Services
Oscar_Saliba@srqit.sarasota.k12.fl.us
(941) 927-9000 ext-31653