Navigation Help : About www.susd.org

The new design of the Scottsdale Unified School District Web site was launched on June 2, 2004. The six month redesign process included looking at the navigation structure, as well as the look of the graphical user interface.

The navigational tree was broken into several sections including For Students, For Parents, Our Schools, Our Community, Governing Board and District Departments. A Web committee was formed and met regularly to discuss the most logical placement and grouping of links. To facilitate a smooth transition from the previous navigation structure, the new site includes a search engine, a site map, and a help page pointing out the features of the new interface.

A unique user-friendly navigation feature of the site is in the header bar. As a user moves deeper into a section, the header bar lists the pathway they took to get there. This series of links allows a user to jump to any of the pages in the path.

Some of the considerations that went into the new design were the inclusion of the district color scheme, use of the district logo, a consistent interface between pages, a crisp/clean/professional look, and the ability for every page to look as good in print as it does on the screen.

Maintaining the site with accurate and timely information is one of the main goals of the district. To facilitate continuous feedback from users, the footer of each page contains a link to the Webmaster's e-mail. The footer also contains a "last modified" date to show how timely the information on that page is. Procedures have also been developed to upload and remove information in a timely manner.

Two other items that merit mentioning are ADA compliance and graphic optimization. Throughout the redesign process, consideration was given to the checkpoints set forth by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). These checkpoints are the result of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and help ensure equal access to all users. In addition to addressing users with physical disabilities, consideration was also given to users with technological disabilities. All graphics have been optimized, page lengths have been kept as short as possible, and the use of plug-ins has been restricted.