Hi BusyMom,
Thank you for checking out my website, I just went and looked at yours, great site. Kind of fancy with the flag following the pointer.

My site sponsor is doing our site for free. He's a parent at my school, and no one has asked me about the link. He does all this work on the site on his own time, so he asked me if he could post his site. I don't see a problem with it for now and this is just a trial bases. If after 2 years, (when he's finished) the PTO finds that the site is useful, he will help them find someone to host it, but they will have to pay for it.

Our server doesn't allow us too much fancy stuff, so we are just keeping it standard with information. I did notice that your site also has alot of school information. Is your school helping with the cost of the site? I realize that we help the school, but when you start putting all of their information on your site, can people find out the stuff that you want them to?

I think the hardest thing about having a site is keeping it updated so that people will use it.
Thanks for the feedback!!!

Friarfan,
Great website! I loved the form & flyers section. I was curious how you were able to use a "site sponsor". When I approached our "board of directors" I was told there would be too much "red tape" to hassle with for tax issues. How did you justify using a site sponsor? We (PTO) ended up paying for it.

If anyone has a chance, I would love any advice or input on our website! www.panterapto.com

Thank you!

Very Nice Web Site!! You have covered just about everything for your parents and teachers to find information.

Our PTO has just created a web site. I have a friend who has volunteered the next 2 years to keeping it updated. He and I leave the school after next school year. I would love it if people would check out our site at:
Fogarty PTO Web Page
and let me know what you think.

Francine, just one suggestion, you mention that your PTO sponsors After School Programs, wouldn't it be helpful to people to know what those programs are? It's a lot of work, but people who use the internet as a tool, like to get as much information as they can. Also, I like the font that you have choosen.

Good Luck to you and your organization!

[ 10-01-2002: Message edited by: Friarfan ]</p>

I just wanted to thank all of you for taking the time to check out the website and provide me with feedback. I truly appreciate your suggestions and criticisms...it's the only way I can improve the site! So, please don't hesitate to give me your ideas and suggestions...I welcome them! JHB -- thanks for the scoop on 'alt tags'...I never thought of that. I'll see what I can do to figure out how to do them; it's a good idea. Twinptomom, again, thank you for your incredible feedback. I appreciate all the time you took to help me out. Thank you so much to everyone! I am very grateful!
~Francine

I think you've done a great job with your site, and it's a nice service for parents and others who want to learn more about your organization!

A couple formatting issues you might want to consider. In websites, underlines generally mean that the words are a hyperlink that will take you to another page, web developers tend not to use underlining for emphasis on pages. (On hyperlinks,they automatically appear.) So you might want to use bold or another font size for emphasis instead.

The other thing is called "alt tags". Anytime you use any sort of graphic (picture, clipart, etc.), you need to add an alternative description (called an "alt tag") to the graphic. For an example, hold (don't click) your mouse over the PTO Today logo at the top left of this site. You'll see the alternative text appear. This allows anyone with vision problems who is using a screen reader, or someone with a slow modem that leaves graphics turned off, to know what that picture is. It's usually very simple, just a block you type in when adding the graphic to your page. For your first one, you'd probably use something like "stacked books". It only shows when the mouse hovers over the graphic.

Web sites can take a lot of time, so it's nice for you to volunteer yourself. Congratulations on a successful launch!

Way to go Francine - could you do one for us now? Seriously, a PTO website is something we haven't considered but I think I'll bring it up at tomorrow night's exec meeting

Just one thing - and please don't think this is a criticism of YOU - if you are still doing those soup labels, give us your address because even though we tell people at every meeting that we aren't participating anymore, they send them to us and I'd love a good place for them other than the recycling bin where I keep putting them!

Great website!