Winding up into 2019, I have put together a new website for this year's class. It is a new look and different way of thinking for a class site from what I have done in the past. Removing or ignoring the header section of a website in favour of a large icon or linked image has allowed me to reduce clutter on the landing page while keeping it functional. What follows is how I came to that realisation.
One of the aspects learning websites need to consider is how quickly children can access their learning tasks and/or the information they need. Back in 2014, when I was part of the first Manaiakalani Digital Teacher Academy (MDTA), a "3 click site" was suggested as a rule of thumb. This means a site that takes three clicks from the landing page to any piece of information that is needed. The reason for this being that the longer it takes for people to get the information they need, the less likely they are to engage with it... to make a long story short. An example might be if a child needed to do reading, they might start at the landing page, click on a reading button, click on their group button, then click on the link for the week's work.
I have always tried to reduce the number of steps for anyone to get to the information they need while keeping with trends in website design...or at least the trends that work with children's thought processes. In 2018 I developed a "1 click site", thanks to advances in Google Sites. I was able to quickly make a clone for my 2019 site. It wasn't till Robyn Anderson asked for help developing her comic theme idea for a class site (splash below) that I realised I wasn't happy with my own site.
Robyn's site combines the landing page splash with the menu system to cut down the scrolling caused by a site header. Another colleague asked to hep create her website for which I developed an icon to represent her class. The icon's shape allowed me to remove the header from her site as well, which lead me to how to make a landing page I was happy with.
