Teddy Bear Daycare Website
http://portfolio.iu.edu/keebrook/daycare/home.htm
L571 (Johnson)
kevin e. brooks
Mission & Purpose
The Teddy Bear Daycare website will function primarily as a resource for the parents of children enrolled at the daycare. This will include links to resources, on- and off-line, photos of their childrenâÄs artwork and activities, facility policies, an event calendar, lunch and snack menus, and contact information for the staff. Secondarily, the website will function as a business site, providing information to potential clients and employees as well as daycare finder services in east central Indiana.
The website will also eventually have a parents forum and a staff blog. The parents forum will allow parents to speak with one another and to give feedback directly to the daycare staff. The blog will allow staff to report daily on their experiences with the children under their care.
Current Status
Due to scheduling conflicts, communication problems, and circumstances beyond the control of both the website designer and daycare owners (e.g. the owner/manager just had a baby), the website lacks quite a bit of content. At this time, the site functions only as a mock-up of what the website might become. Color schemes, content areas, content itself- all of these things have not been formally decided upon by the daycare owners and represent only a rough place-holding draft by the website designer.
The website designer currently hosts the website on his personal file management account through IUPUI. He has recommended that the owners begin thinking of moving the site to a local commercial host such as iQuest or NetUSA.
I have 5 main pages including an entry/welcome page, an about page, a parents page, an enrollment information page, and a links page. Four more pages under the parents page will display artwork, photos, and videos of the children as well as a resource list of books and videos used by the daycare staff. Any photos or videos of the children are password protected. I plan to add another page titled âÄChildrenâÄ which will include links, games, and other resources for parents and children to do tegether, expanding the learning at the daycare out of the classroom and into the internet.
Part 1: Action Plan
Management
The website will eventually be managed by the daycare owners and possibly their staff. Initially, the designer of the website (kevin e. brooks) will update and manage the site until such time as the owners decide they have learned enough to effectively manage the site. The website designer will most likely remain available for consultation if necessary.
One of the major areas of management will be taking care of the ISP and constant turnover of clients, artwork, photos, etc. Finding and maintaining a working relationship with a web-hosting service should not prove problematic. I have already suggested several local web hosting services that could easily accommodate this website including I Quest, NetUSA, SpinWeb, and Hostony.
The client turnover will prove more challenging because of security issues with the passwords. A change in passwords will need to happen periodically which will involve identifying current clientele and staff and giving them the new password.
Maintenance
Maintenance will include updating the artwork page, calendar page, and multimedia page as well as changing the password on a regular basis, updating any changes in staff or fees or policies. Any updates should be displayed at the bottom of each page.
Evaluation
Feedback will be received from parents and others accessing the site on a continuing basis. From time to time, possibly on an annual basis, the site managers will conduct a more formal survey of clientele as well as an environmental scan. They should also perform a more formative evaluation that includes browser checks and code validation.
Revisions from Peer Reviews
I added more in-page navigation links to more of the pages to facilitate navigation up and down those pages. Although it has not yet been done, I will change the password scripting to a more secure form because it was pointed out that the password could be gleaned from viewing the source code for the password page.
I have not added the links at the bottom of the parents page to the main menu nor will I change the in-page link title from âÄWhat are my kids doing all day?âÄ to match the page links. I did this deliberately as an added security measure to protect the privacy of the children. By not placing the links prominently in a menu, website users must happen upon it or already know about it. This does not stop people from finding this area of the website but it does make it more difficult.
I have also decided to remove the address for the daycare entirely. Until now, I had a partial address on the website intending to fill it in as soon as I found out the address myself (I know how to get there to pick up and drop off my kids but not the street address or zip code). However, in accordance with the security I am concerned with, I have decided to only post the ownerâÄs first name (eg Miss Angie), phone number, and email. This will mean that any prospective clients coming across the daycare online will have to contact them by one of those routes instead of just being able to drop by. This protects the children and staff not only from the proverbial âÄsexual predatorâÄ and stalkers but also from non-custodial parents and others who parents may not wish their children to come in contact with.
Part 2: Website Expansion
Technological Elements
I have already added a javascript password page to protect some of the pages. However, as discussed above, this javascript does not represent a purely secure password script and must be replaced perhaps with a server-based script or other measure casual browsers cannot penetrate. I found this password script at an online source for free scripts some time ago from Netpedia.com (http://www.netpedia.com).
I would also like to add some sort message board or chat service to the site for parents to be able to talk with each other and the staff. A blog updated by the staff at the end of each of their shifts would also represent something that could benefit both the clientele and the staff. Parents could log on daily to find out how the day went without having to bother busy daycare staff and it allows staff to run an archive of behaviors and events. In order to keep costs to a minimum and allow the daycare to see a blog in action before deciding upon it for sure, I have decided to use DiaryLand.com for the Teddy Bear Daycare blog.
In addition, as part of the proposed childrenâÄs page, I have attempted to use php scripting to add a connect 4 game to the site. I found the code online from Lookout.ie Games through phpbuilder.com but I cannot get it to work except in the preview of my simple HTML editor. I cannot find documentation on how to get it to run without the browser thinking itâÄs an application to download. I have even tried loading php 5.1 to my filemanager in case it wasnâÄt working because it was not php-enabled. The page still would not work. Either I get an alert that tells me this is an application to dowload or the page displays in a garbled fashion. I have also tried loading the file to a separate server (Tripod) with the result that the page which displays is garbled code. To see it work properly go to http://www.lookout.ie/games/onlinegames/connect4/index.php3.
While adding Flash to the site would indeed prove âÄflashy,âÄ the owners of the daycare who will inherit its upkeep have only basic knowledge of coding at this time and so I have made no plans to add any Flash.
Content Elements
Beyond adding more content to the artworks, photos, and multimedia pages, another reviewer suggested that the site contain a page just for kids as mentioned above. In other words, in addition to the parents page the site should have a childrenâÄs page. This page would contain links to online games, puzzles, poetry, stories, etc. This section would contain activities for parents and children to do together.
Of course, application forms for both prospective clients and employees could be made available online as well. More detailed policies and philosophy statements could also appear on the website.
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