Help and Site Information
The Swinton High School Website has been designed with ease of use in mind, and there are a few conventions that are used throughout.
Using the site
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All main navigation for the site is situated across the top tabs of every page. Sub-Navigation for the different areas of the site will appear in the right-hand column. This will change according to which area of the site you are in.
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All links to other pages, both internal pages and external sites, open within the same window.
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We have also included a site map, a link to which can be found at the top of every page, next to the link to the help file. Going to the site map will give you a completely structured navigation system, to every page on the site, much like a table of contents at the beginning of a book.
We have tried to make the site as user friendly as possible. If however, you think it could be improved, or information could be easier to find, do not hesitate to get in touch.
You can email
Scott Croston, Web Developer @ The Swinton High School, with any comments.
General Site Information
The Swinton High School Website is built using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and XHTML. It has been based on an original design by a web designer from Sweden called Andreas Viklund.
The site does not use any Flash or animation. There are some very good reasons for this – accessibility, and ease of use. We wanted the site to be as accessible and user friendly as possible, and whereas yes, Flash animation can look good, it is still a relatively new technology, one which a lot of people may not be able to see. Also, many users access the internet using a dial-up modem. To these users, Flash animations and a very graphic intensive site can take an age to download (if at all!!).
1. Accessibility.
This is a measure of how accessible the site is. To most people, the internet is viewed on a home computer with a monitor, using Internet Explorer, though others may view the site very differently.
As well as other types of browser, such as Mozilla Firefox, Netscape and Opera, some people may wish to view the site using portable devices such as PDAs. These devices will only view the site in certain ways, which is why the site must be accessible to as many different devices as possible.
There are also people who use the internet, without ‘seeing' a screen, visually impaired people for instance. These people use what is known as a ‘screen reader' to use the site. Screen readers, however, often find it difficult to ‘read' a tables driven, image heavy website. To make it easier, developers must therefore strive to make a site as easy to ‘read' as possible, which is where the power of CSS comes in.
Using CSS for layout as opposed to tables or flash enables a site to become much more friendly to users who don't use the internet sat in front of a computer with a monitor.
2. Development
Not only does CSS make a site more accessible, it also makes a site easier to develop and change. What this means to you, the user, is that the site can be updated very quickly, thereby keeping you more in touch and more up-to-date than ever.
It also means that the site is future-proof. Because the site will conform to ‘standards', whenever new technology appears, the site will be current, both cutting back on development time and cost.