Do any of your schools outsource their websites?

One of my schools went with a firm that quoted one thing, built a site and then it sat there with no content updates despite a contract to do so... When the domain name ran out they didn't renew until the head, prompted by me requested a transfer. They ignored the transfer request, renewed and sent a bill for another years hosting (stupid money!).

Since then the site has died the company has pretty much died too and so it goes... I'd definitely recommend looking at the Joomla option but make sure you do some training on how to create the articles and potentially do as Plexer did and get someone else in to get all the initial graft sorted.

We were outsourced to a company with regard to our website despite having extensive in-house expertise to do exactly the same at much less expense. Yes, we do outsource but no, we don't agree with the decision.

We don't...I don't see the point. Doing the jobs page takes a few minutes, updating can be done on the WYSIWYG site editor. Admittedly, we don't use any packages or whatever...it's a basic SHTML setup. Quick, simple, to the point.

It'll eventually be joined up to the VLE, but for now it's more than enough..I'm just looking at image galleries and bolting a webcam feed for the new site into it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gibbo

We've just created a new site, only to find our hoster (DigitalBrain) can only support HTML.

---

I shouldnt laugh but :D:D, where is that hosted? 1984?:D

Our school, and a lot of local secondary and primary schools, have gone with a company called e4education. They design and build, and then train you to add content. We outsourced because of lack of time and expertise mainly. I won't say that it has the quickest or most foolproof method of updating, but the site does look good and the company provide email/phone support which usually sorts out any problems or rethinks with design quickly. We can pay using e-learning credits at the moment (until they disappear). Sorry, can't give you the annual cost. Their website, with examples of their work, is here

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mark80

I shouldnt laugh but :D:D, where is that hosted? 1984?:D

---

Good god, is DigitalBrain not dead yet?

We pay some company x amount (reasonable) for the hosting and they also provide the front end. It's asp so database driven, it's actually our Receptionist that updates it on an almost daily basis. Easy to use, anybody could do it.

Ahh..Prestel and acoustic couplers...those were the days..

Ours is outsourced to a local company, did set us back a fair bit in the first place but the response has been brilliant and we have managed to get pupils join just from viewing it (independant school).

We do all the content updates in house, although the women in charge always ends up messing it up so have to fix it every few months.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SeanVin

We out-sourced our web site because we simply did not have the time or expertise to do it ourselves, the hardest part was choosing the supplier. After that it went very smoothly, we gave them some ideas, they came up with a design, we asked them to tweak it and they built the site. The process took about two weeks. It took us another 2 weeks to upload the content. It is a CMS which our [non-techie] Copy and Design Manager keeps up to date. We also pay for hosting so I don’t have to worry about DMZs, reverse proxies, back-ups or redundancy. If we have a problem or want to tweak the design, up until now it has been sorted within an hour. You can see the result at Northgate High School, and I can whole heartedly recommend INCO (INCO Software Solutions)

---

That's a pretty nice site.

Im pretty amazed at how schools are ripped off! Many web design companies will do a nice site for £500 - £1500, I just cannot believe people pay £5000+!

I think as soon as they see school, they think money, especially as they are funded by the government.

Thanks for all your advice, guys. I am approaching some of the companies mentioned for a chat and a quote.

Web Design Leicester | Leicestershire Website Design

This company may be local to you.

ours has been designed by TheIngots, and we are currently adding stuff to it. It uses Drupal, and is very easy to do!!

HERE is our "temporary" address until we can get it hosted on our own servers. Its by no means as good as some (Sean, your's is quite nice for Northgate) but it does the job....now only if staff would support me by give me information to put on it....