Lana Stuart, webmaster for the Dougherty County School System in Albany, Georgia, is a self-described "one-person Web shop" whose responsibilities are considerable. "I do everything from Web design to server management," Stuart says, adding that in spite of her workload, the Web site has garnered several awards, including the Georgia School Public Relations Association's Silver Award of Excellence in 2003.

One reason for the success of the site is a clean, usable design that provides current information about the school system to its target audiences: parents, employees, and alumni. The home page includes announcements, press releases, feature stories, and links to more in-depth information.

A typical user might click the Parents link on the home page to get information on how to register a child for school, the current year's calendar, or even breakfast and lunch menus for the month.

Stuart says an excellent example of the timely information she is able to provide Dougherty County parents came about during three recent hurricanes that threatened the region. "The Web site was a primary source of information for parents about school closings and reopenings."

Web site requirements

With 26 schools and six administrative offices, the school system also needed a site that could serve as an online resource for teachers and administrators. One of the chief issues that Stuart considered when constructing the site was "the sheer volume of material" that needed to be available, not only to the school staff but also to alumni and parents.

Another challenge that Stuart faced was the need to provide links between database resources, parents, and staff. Accelerated Reader Search, for instance, allows parents to search a database for level-appropriate books for their students from any library site in the county. Alumni Registry listings allow graduates to post personal profiles and to keep in touch with former classmates.

Stuart chose FrontPage 2003 and Microsoft Office Access 2003 to build and maintain these information-intensive features.

FrontPage features used

Both the Accelerated Reader Search and the Alumni Registry were created using the FrontPage 2003 Database Results Wizard, and they have proven to be two of the most popular features on the site. To date, more than 900 former students have posted profiles on the Alumni Registry section.

Stuart also relies heavily on Web site reports in FrontPage, which she characterizes as "invaluable in keeping the Web site as current as possible." She adds that FrontPage is the ideal organizational tool to help manage the thousands of files related to the school system's Web services all in one place.

"Our school system has thoroughly integrated Microsoft products from the server level down to the desktop," Stuart notes. "FrontPage helps me organize the Web site and manage the content in the most effective way possible."

Additional tools

• Microsoft Office Access 2003