July 2013
District Website Redesign: Project Plan
Summary
Working with district offices and the district’s website vendor, the communications team will
launch an updated, redesigned district website on January 2, 2014. The new site will feature
improved navigation; updated, clearly presented content; and a fresher look that captures the
energy of the district and its transformation.
Background
The design of the current district website (www.baltimorecityschools.org) is now three years old.
While it remains a significant improvement over the previous site, district priorities, site visitor
expectations and content maintenance demands have changed since its launch, such that the
communications team has identified site redesign as a priority for the 2013-14 school year.
Although there is no predetermined or standard lifespan of a website design, a two- to three-year
cycle is not uncommon. Further, commonly accepted indicators that a website redesign should be
pursued include
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A perception that the site does not effectively communicate “who the organization is”
(that is, its values, major initiatives, etc.)
Reported or perceived user difficulty in locating content
Considerable outdated or “orphaned” content, or content that is only sporadically
maintained
These indicators are all apparent with the current district site. To address them, the
communications team has identified these goals of the website redesign:
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Create a look and feel, along with robust and frequently updated content, that capture the
district’s energy and highlight key initiatives in its reform and transformation
Restructure content groupings and hierarchy to provide primary audiences (current and
prospective families, community stakeholders, partners, policymakers, media, general
public) with more intuitive paths to content and information
Establish conventions (typographic style, file naming, etc.) that will facilitate
maintenance and updates and create a more uniform, coherent “package” for the site
overall
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Clearly delineate between the district public-facing site (www.baltimorecityschools.org)
and City Schools Inside (www.baltimorecityschools.org/cityschoolsinside), so that
employees increasingly use the latter site as their primary resource for employmentrelated information and employee-specific district news – and so that the audience for the
district website is clearly identified as the public
The communications team’s audit of the current website indicates that the redesign will be
significant, with most, if not all, pages need repositioning, editorial or design attention. In order
to minimize disruption, ensure efficiency and respect the time web content leads in each district
office have available for this work, the redesign project will follow a phased approach, as
outlined below.
Phase 1 – Maintenance on existing site
(July to September)
Working within the design and structure of the current website, the communications staff will
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Flag outdated content for update or deletion
Move employee-centric content to City Schools Inside
Establish consistent typographic and written style conventions
Establish consistent file-naming and upload conventions for PDFs, etc.
Improve navigation with more effective cross-linking across webpages and sections
During this phase, communications staff will work with web leads in district offices to update
content and apply consistent style across pages. This will ensure that, when content is migrated
to a new design, it will be current and require minimal rewriting or reformatting. Rigorous filenaming conventions will facilitate updating of links, so that the new site will launch with no
broken links to frustrate users.
(Note that many areas of the current website are “owned” centrally and created or routinely
managed by the communications team. This includes major sections under the current About Us,
Newsroom and Students sections. In these cases, communications staff will delete or update
content directly.)
In addition, communications staff will work to establish more effective linking across related
content – for example, ensuring that information on attendance is available by navigating
through the current “Students” and “Family & Community” areas, as well as in the
“Departments” area (where it is currently deeply buried, beneath Departments  Academics 
Student Support and Safety). This work will begin familiarizing site visitors with navigation
structured by audience, rather than by internal district office department.
Phase 2 – Expansion of content related to major district priorities and initiatives
(beginning August)
Keeping in mind the public-facing nature of the district website, communications staff will
expand and update content related to, for example
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Preparing students for college and career (including information on Common Core State
Standards implementation, “effectiveness,” school portfolio, etc.)
21st-century teaching and learning (including information on the buildings plan)
In some cases, this will involve updating and restructuring existing material (e.g.,
www.baltimorecityschools.org/betterbuildings); in others, it will involve making connections
across content (e.g., connecting www.baltimorecityschools.org/standards to other areas of the
website that focus on teaching and learning). The purpose of this work is to improve the currency
of website content and to highlight and better position the important work of the district, in
preparation to populate a new website design that reflects the district’s energy.
Phase 3 – Design and structure development
(Fall)
Working with SchoolWires, the district’s website development and content management system
provider, communications staff will establish a new design template and navigational structure
for the website. The goal is to create a cleaner, crisper look and feel with clearer paths for site
visitors to follow to their desired content. The new design will include links to social media sites
and will be developed for use on desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
Phase 4 – Migration
(November to December)
In late fall, communications staff will begin migration of content to the new design. This will be
done strategically, beginning with content that does not change frequently, to minimize the need
to maintain content on both the “live” website and the new site prior to its launch. During
migration, consistency of style and presentation across pages will be confirmed, and all links will
be checked.
Also during this phase, web content leads in district offices will be given an orientation to the
new website design and structure, and a refresher on web style and use of the content
management system.
Phase 5 – Pre-Launch
(December)
To prepare site users for the new design, communications staff will announce the website
relaunch, using images from the new site and other resources, such as
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Online “tour” of the new site
Family Menu article
City Schools Inside postings
Twitter
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The new site will also be demonstrated to district office staff in a series of informal “brown bag”
sessions.
These activities will take place leading up to the new site launch on January 2, 2014.
Staff resources
Department supervisors are requested to designate a single web content lead for their department.
Web content leads should be in a position to identify their department’s immediate and longer
term website communications needs and, to the extent possible, to situate their department’s
work within the broader communications needs of the district. They should be knowledgeable
about both the work of their own department, but also how that work contributes to the district’s
larger mission, goals and initiatives. They should also be comfortable using technology and have
strong written communication skills.
Web content leads will receive training as needed on the content management system and
website style, and communications staff will work with them to ensure that content is current,
accurate, clearly and correctly expressed, well organized and attractively presented.
While the communications staff will take on the large majority of the website redesign work,
web content leads should expect to devote several hours to the project over the course of
approximately three months. (It is not possible to indicate specifically how much time will be
required, since this will depend on the complexity and amount of content generated by each
specific department. For some web content leads, the commitment will most likely amount to
fewer than two to three hours, whereas for others, the need may be greater.)
Once the new website is launched, these staff members should also expect to spend some time
each month to update and refresh content as driven by the work of their department.
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