Parkway Relaunches Website
On Oct. 1, 2012, Parkway re-launched their website and made all the individual schools change their website to make them appear more consistent. Despite the learning curve, no content has been removed, and the website should be easier to use in the long run.
“We wanted a more consistent look,” said Computer Resource Specialist Polly Weidhas. “We wanted it to be easier for the parents who have multiple children at multiple schools to be able to access information from one website.”
Ultimately, the idea of the new website was proposed by Project Parkway and Superintendent Dr. Keith Marty. Later, the new website was approved by the school board. At the district level, the website is maintained by Dave Irby, and at North, web design teacher Jim Parks.
“I am the overseer of the whole general website [at North,]” said Parks, who has been in charge of North’s website for thirteen years. Parks gets help from principal Dr. Jenny Marquart, CRS Mr. Fred Friedman, and attendance secretary Michelle Mitchell.
When one accesses the website parkwayschools.net, they notice that the browser is redirected to a new URL called Edline. Edline is a software program that allows webmasters to build websites for educational institutions; they host the website on their own servers.
“[Edline] is a data management company,” said Parks, “[and they] host the site.”
The new website may look cleaner to some; however, a lot of content has been moved around, which has frustrated some users.
“I don’t think anything is new or removed,” said Weidhas. “It’s just located and configured in a different way so it is easier [to use].”
“In the long run [the website] will be a nice feature for parents, students, staff and community because it allows more items to be accessible for those groups,” said Parks. “So far, people like it, but people have to get used to a new format.”
Besides a new look on desktop and laptop computers, the look there is a separate format for mobile devices such as iPhones.
“When you do pull up North’s website on a mobile device, a mobile version does come up,” said Parks.
The new look is more modern, and the main thing is that the website is consistent from page to page. It may throw a learning curve to many, but in the long run, it should be easier to use.
“It think [the website] is going in the right direction, because it will be more beneficial to [the Parkway community],” said Parks. “Just be patient as we move all the content from the old website over to the new one.”
by Brandon Fredman