• An announcement tool has been placed at the top of each school's main page and must remain there. This tool must be set to subscribe to "All School Announcements". The primary use of the All School Announcements tool will include significant district-wide announcements, weather-related issues, school closings, crisis notifications, etc.
   
• No animated images, scrolling text, or marquees.
   
• Audio and video files must be initiated by the user clicking on a link/button (i.e. they do not automatically launch).
   
• Graphics that are inserted into documents are not to exceed the Web resolution standard of 800 x 600 pixels. The Pixlr web tool can be used to resize and optimize graphics.
   
• Images must be .gif or .jpg format.
   
• Linked email addresses must be behind a CAPTCHA page. Use the Profile tool within CMS4Schools to achieve this. You can find a  CAPTCHA tutorial here.
  • Example of an incorrect link: person@ecasd.k12.wi.us.
  • Example of a correct link: Click here to email Person (where you'd be taken to the CAPTCHA page).
     
• To ensure the end user may view District content, files which will be publicly viewed should be in .pdf format whenever possible.
   
• All pictures and graphics must have Alt text.
   
• The left-side menu will be consistent among elementary, middle, and high schools. ECASD navigation requirements can be found here. All first-tier links are required. Second-tier links may only be omitted if they do not apply to the building. Second-tier link order and category may not be changed.
   
• Pages may only use the default font.
   
• Schools will not change the banners.
   
• Pages will not have background images.
   
• Expanding menus will have no more than twelve (12) menu options.
   
• Access databases are not permitted. CMS4Schools does not support them.
   
• All sites will be maintained by ECASD staff.
   
• All links to external sites must open in a new browser window or tab. An external site is any page that does not have the "District, Schools, Students, Parents, Community, Staff" CMS menu options at the top of the page.
   
• Before uploading files using either the File Uploads tool or the Resources/News tool, the file should be named using the same naming conventions for new webpages.

Best Practices

• 5 clicks - Users should be able to find what they are looking for in five clicks or fewer.
   
• Photo resolution - including those embedded in a PDF - should be optimized for the Web. The Pixlr web tool can be used to resize and optimize graphics.
   
• Pages should scroll no longer than a screen and a half.
   
• Keep it simple. Just the essentials.
   
• Outdated information is bad. Very bad. Better to not have it on the site than to have old information. You can verify whether your links are valid with the W3C Link Checker.
   
• Don't use spaces in file names. Instead, use either an underscore or a dash.
   
• Rather than uploading videos directly to CMS, it is strongly recommended that you upload videos to an external video site such as TeacherTube and use the link they provide to embed the video stream in your pages.