Upper Dauphin students redesign schools website
By Duane Good
EDITOR
LOYALTON •
A proposed upgrade of the Upper Dauphin Area School District’s official website drew kudos for its creators – all of them current or former high-school students. Board members and administrators applauded the effort of Isaac Brown, Cameron Crum and Tyler Whitmer following a pres^ entation at a recent board meeting. Brown, a rising senior, along with Crum and Whitmer – both of whom graduated June 1 – were students in Todd Rupp’s computer technology class. “The students wanted to redesign the site to make it more functional,” said Rupp. Brown said all tabs on the sites front page were rearranged to be in alphabetical order; all subtopics in each tab also were rearranged the same way. A “click and search” feature at the top of the front page was added as well, Brown explained. “Our main goal was ease of access,” he said. “We also wanted to make the site more mobile-friendly, since our research showed that 50 percent of people who access the site also have cellphones.” Other features not previously on the site were added for the benefit of different audience groups (i.e. parents, teachers, etc.) Access to photo galleries and other parts of the existing site also was streamlined, according to Brown. Aesthetically, the site’s front page would sport a new banner featuring “dueling” Trojans (the district’s sports mascot) and a modified crest, the design of which was supplied by high-school Principal Dermot Garrett. Both the students and their teacher are very pleased with how the upgrades turned out. “I was impressed with what they did. The site is a lot more user-friendly,” said Rupp, He said the classroom sessions where the trio worked together were “like seeing a small business being run.” “Very impressive” and “Excellent job” were among the other comments given to Brown and Rupp during the meeting. Official launch of the website is pending more refinements as well as orienting staff to new features.