web-guideline.htm

Each designated staff member* is responsible for the development, content and updates of their pages. Each person is responsible for acquiring the MISD Publications, Video, Internet Consent and Release Agreement prior to posting any student’s name, picture, art, written work, voice, verbal statements or portraits (video or still) on the school's web pages. This form must be signed by the parent(s) and student, and filed at the campus. This form is available at http://www.mabankisd.net/Technologyservices/release-agreement.htm.

Upon approval by the designated staff member* the web page files will be published to the district web server by the individual designated staff member* or by the MISD web master. At no time should files be posted that are submitted directly by students. No students should ever be given access to publish web pages. Posting web pages will be done by designated staff member* after pages are reviewed to see that all MISD guidelines are followed.

*Designated staff member - someone employed by the school district, such as an administrator, a teacher, or paraprofessional. The designated staff member must be identified and approved in writing (using the form provided by the Technology Department) by the Building Principal. This form is available at http://www.mabankisd.net/technologyservices/designee.htm. This form is to be printed, completed, and sent to the Technology Department. After receiving the completed form the designated staff member will be given permissions and instructions by the Technology Department to publish live web pages.

Requirements

All official school and district sites must be hosted on Mabank ISD Web server.
Pages that contain time-sensitive information, such as: calendars, school events, staff information, must be updated monthly to insure current, accurate information.
Web pages must be checked monthly to make sure that links work.

All Web pages must have a title (which appears on the Web browser’s title bar).

Each main homepage must include a link to www.mabankisd.net.

Each page must (at minimum) contain a link back to the previous level in the school’s site, and a link to the site’s main navigational page.

The Mabank Independent School District Web Server is for educational use only. Contents of the site should give information and promote school activities (PTA, classes, staff, departments, sports, school projects, calendars, volunteering opportunities, etc.)

External Links (Links to sites and content that is not hosted on an official Mabank ISD Web server)
- Commercial Links
  Certain fundraising information and links may be allowed. These company links should have approval district-wide. All other commercials, commercial transactions, or advertisements are prohibited on school pages.
- Educational Links
  External links should be allowed as approved by the building principal.

Note: In all cases where an "external link" (link to a site or content that is not hosted on an official Mabank ISD Web server), is used on a school's Web site, the following disclaimer statement must be present on the school's main navigation page. Mabank ISD is not responsible for contents on external sites or servers.

Files hosted on the Mabank ISD Web server and hyperlinks from these files should not contain information that is in violation of (or promotes the violation of) any district policy or regulation nor any local, state, or federal regulation or law.
The following student information is generally acceptable to include, if parent(s) have given permission/consent to use it per district release form, on a school's web page.
- Elementary students: Student’s picture or work with first name, or first name and last initial only.
- Secondary students: Student’s picture or work with first and last name, or first name and last initial, or first name.
  
  No other personal information about a student is allowed, such as email address, phone number, home address.
Unauthorized use of copyrighted material is prohibited. Giving credit (web address or active link) to a company that has created a graphic, design, etc. for a school page may be allowed, unless the MISD filter blocks the site.
Prohibited items include:
- Personal information about staff and parent volunteers: non-district email addresses, non-district mailing address, and non-district phone numbers except as approved by the building principal. Example: PTSO/PTA/Booster Organization officer/contact requests to have their personal email address listed in the appropriate area on the school's page(s) and principal approves the request. Note: Pictures and names of staff and parent volunteers will be allowed with principal’s approval.
- Student personal contact information of any kind
- Links to staff, volunteer or student personal home pages
- Links to "non-official" MISD related sites that are hosted on remote/external (non-district) web servers - Examples: athletic booster pages, PTA pages, teacher created classroom pages, etc.
  However, booster organizations, PTA, teachers, etc. may post their pages on their school's Web site following the same protocol and guidelines presented in this document.
- "Guest books", "chat areas", "message boards", or similar
- Links to sites that are not accessible inside the network (through the MISD filter).

Web Publishing Recommendations

Use a consistent style on the school’s main pages. (Individual departments, grade levels, programs, etc. may vary, but the administrative and general information pages should maintain consistency in look and navigation.)
Pages should be sized so they will display properly in a variety of screen resolutions. Pages should be previewed and tested at least at "640 x 480", "800 x 600", and "1024 x 768".
Regular text entries on web pages should be limited to the fonts "Arial" and "Times New Roman" on the PC. Any special fonts should be saved and used as graphics to ensure that they display properly.
Avoid color schemes or backgrounds that make the information on the page hard to read.
Colors should be "web safe" as much as possible, so they will display properly in 216 colors.
Avoid using white text or links (white is difficult to print).
Graphics should be used judiciously. Photos and other graphics should generally not exceed a total 100k (file size) per page.
Animated GIF files should be used very sparingly and need to be relatively small. The amount, size, and type of graphics used have the most direct affect on the "load time" of Web pages.
Video and audio files may be used when they are appropriate and are compressed properly. They are generally large files that take long "load times" for the user, and many times require some users (non-district networked machines) to have special plug-ins or viewers/players, in order to view or hear the files.