In working with various programs over the last couple of weeks, I've become more familiar with the options. As is my habit, I created a diagram to organize my thoughts and express my understanding. You see the result here.
Most people want something that is easy to use; that's understandable. However, some people want to have the flexibility to create, arrange, and lay out page elements however they want. Other people don't want that; they want a highly structured page where they are just filling in blanks. To my way of thinking, the four tools listed in the diagram each occupy a different spot when plotted along those two axes: easy-hard, flexible-structured.
Our district has a site that pre-dates our adoption of GAFE, that some teachers still use for their websites. It is purely for hosting, with no creation tool. We have Microsoft Expressions available for teachers to use to create and edit pages, which then have to be uploaded by ftp. Within Expressions (or any other html editor), teachers have as much flexibility as they want to arrange, lay out, and design their pages. The flexibility comes at a cost; you have to know what you're doing. For this reason, I've put Expressions in the "flexible, hard-to-use" quadrant.
Google Sites is also hard to use, but it does provide some structure for pages. This earns it a spot in the "structured, hard-to-use" quadrant.
Easier to use than either of these two options are two web-based programs that offer free hosting (as well as premium upgrades for those who want them). I've tried out both of their free versions over the last few weeks. My evaluation is that the main difference between wix.com and weebly.com is in the amount of structure provided. In a Wix website, once you select your theme, you have a lot of control over the location and look of page elements, text, images, etc. Weebly provides more structure for the page, restricting what elements can be placed in what locations. The flexibility of Wix comes at a little bit of a cost: the learning curve for Wix is a bit higher than for Weebly, and Wix does not let you change design themes once you've built your site. With Weebly, you can change themes as much as you like, because the basic structure of the page remains the same. Wix, then, gets the spot in the "flexible, easy-to-use" quadrant, while Weebly goes under "structured, easy-to-use".
Whichever tool you choose to create your website, it is important to make sure that parents and students can easily find the information for which they are searching. Think simple rather than complicated, and after your students have been using it for a few weeks, ask them about how your site could be improved. Don't be afraid to make changes based on student or parent feedback. A website editor that is easy to use makes that idea much less daunting.
