Platypus School Web

Platypus School web will provide your school with a self building high quality website. Your site will be hosted on the Platypus Server with World Wide Access.

Sign up to the Platypus School Web Service and with 48 hours of confirmation (usually much less) you will be emailed   Your new web address   Your admin login     Your admin password If you have an existing domain name (eg www.myschool.edu) we can attach that domain name when you are ready.

We will provide a starting banner and starting site plan which you can modify or delete.

You create your own unique look and feel by uploading your graphics and making choices on layouts, colour schemes and navigation.

As you build pages so they appear on the menus.  You can add content directly or copy and paste it from your word processor.

You can do it all yourself with the need for a web expert. You only need to know your school and how to use a word processor. 

Just look at the benefits below. 

• 'Your create your own look and feel'
• 'You create your own site map'
• 'You can hide pages or whole sections until you are happy with them'
• 'You add content through our in-browser word processor'
• 'You can add your own images; anywhere, anysize'
• 'You can add hotspots to images'
• 'You can include your own animations, sounds and videos'
• 'Your menus build automatically'
• 'You can give many staff members the right to build and edit'
• 'You can appoint different staff editors to different sections'
• 'You can make pages or sections private or staff only'
• 'You have extensive property control of elements like tables'
• 'You can create easy links to documents or other sites'
• 'You have no technical problems'
• 'Your site is search engine friendly'
• 'Your site contains a spell checker'
• 'Your site can contain feedback pages'
• 'Your site is backed up daily'
• 'You are not alone'

Your create your own look and feel

There are many opportunities to make your site unique.  Each page consists of a header and footer, a navigational menu and a working space.  The content and layout within the working space pages is completely free from and provide you with an opportunity to reflect your own style.  You also have control over your site header, footer and navigation method.

Header	Footer	Navigation

You create your own site map

Platypus Websites does not impose a site map.  When you receive your starter site we will set up a few typical pages to get you started but your can build any site plan you want.  As you buid you site Platypus keeps track of the plan for you.  The Cascading and Panel menu options give the user quick over view of the site on every page but for the developer Platypus displays the current site map in a simple table.

 

This is the site map for a existing primary school website. The school has no web building expertise other than that gained building with their Platypus School Website

You can hide pages or whole sections until you are happy with them

You add content through our in-browser word processor

The in-browser word processor looks and works like a simplified version of your regular word processor.  You will recognise many features like Font controls, Alignment tools and Table controls but also features like The Image manager, Image Map Editor, Flash manager, Media manager and Document manager.  These and other more advanaced features allow your website to grow in sophistication as you grow in expertise. 

View Editor

Notice the property controls under the text area.  These controls allow you to do detailed work like customising tables and image maps (see later)

WORD PROCESSOR FREE TRIAL Really it is not possible to do the in-browser word processor justice. Please CLICK HERE FOR A FREE TRAIL now and play with a live version yourself. You can use it as a novice or delve into the tools and work at a professional level. (You will find that can upload images and documents. Please do not embarass us by uploading inappropriate material.)

You can add your own images; anywhere, anysize

Platypus School Websites do not have set places where images can be added.  You can add them anywhere and they can be any size.  However, we do recommend that you adopt your own conventions about where photos go and how they appear.  This will give your site an additional professional character.

The inbuilt word processor keeps a library of images for you which you can add to as much as you like.  We expect that you have lots of images of facilities and children having fun learning.

We provide 5 folders to keep image resources. (animations, images, library, interface and icons) You can make subfolders inside those if you need more.

To get your photos and scans into your library you use the upload facility inside your image manager.  Please be sure that images are not too big ( less than 100kb) and less that 400px in length or width are best.  While the browser will scale them it is much better if they are the right size to start with.

View Image Editor

You can add hotspots to images

Hots spots are created in images using image maps.  A circle or rectanglular spot is defined over an ear of the image and it becomes a live link.  The mouse pointer changes to a pointing hand, a comment text appears and if you click it the linked page will load.

View iMap Editor

Images maps can be very handy and in small sites can even be used as a perpetual feature, as a beautiful alternative graphic menu.

You can include your own animations, sounds and videos

If you have ever tried to patch Flash or videos into a web page, you will know it can be a bit tricky. Not, however, with Platypus School Websites.  Your Flash movie, video or sound can be uploaded and inserted with no more fuss than an image. 

View Flash Manager	View Media Manager

Platypus School Websites supports a full array or properties so that you can get maximum value from your resources. 

Your menus build automatically

If you have the edit rights or privileges you can load the Site Editor and add, edit or delete pages.  You edit the content of pages on the pages themselves but the name of the page, the type of page and where the page is found on the menu are all determined in the Site Editor.

Platypus Websites have 4 levels of menu.  Level 1 are the items on menu that appear all the time.  Level are the items that appear only when you rollover a level 1 item.  We say every Level 2 page has a Level 1 page as a parent. 

Similarly Level 3 pages are children of Level 2 pages. 
Level 4 pages are children of Level 3 pages.



You can see that the site can easly accomodate thousands of pages with even page one a single mouse click away. (imagine 10 level one pages each with 10 children, each with 10 children, each with 10 children is 10,000 pages  in comforatble menu)

But the beautiful part is that Platypus Locknkey automatically builds the menu for you. You just tell it what Level and select the parent.  All rest is done for you!

Give Pages Admin

You can give many staff members the right to build and edit

Some software gives your one building licence or CAL and only that user can create or edit pages.  Sometime you can 'bend the rules' a little and give that user name and password to other people so that they too can edit.  But that gives them too many rights.

Platypus School Websites includes UNLIMITED editor licences.  You can issue your own.  When you add a user you can give them an login and password you can give them special rights. (Please not that logins are not required to view the site).  You can give the the rights that determine are sufficient for their needs.    

Issue a builders licence

If a full 'pages admin' licence is too much control for your new user to have, you have alternatives. (see below)

You can appoint different staff editors to different sections

Schools can be quite complex with different people with different responsibilities.  If you want the sports teacher to put up teams, results and programs you don't have to give her full 'Pages Admin' rights.  You can just give her edit rights over the pages she needs to edit. The keeps the integrity of the site safely in your hands and yet still allows others to contribute directly.

 

Issue Edit Rights

You can make pages or sections private or staff only

There are 3 different classes of user:

• Public (or anonymous);
• Private (or logged students and staff);
• Staff (normally teachers and admin).

When you create (or edit) a page in the site manager, you can nominale who is allowed to view it.  Public pages can be used for most of the site but Private pages may be used for student only information (like excursion timetables) and Staff only pages can used for minutes and agendas.  

Select your audience

You have extensive property control of elements like tables

If you are a beginner then this feature may not mean much to you.  If you want a table you simply click on the table icon, select the rows and columns you want and then use the table that is provided. Quick simple and effective.

However, if you are experienced in web design, and even beginners will be soon, this will make your eyes light up.  For full control of your website you have to have extensive control over tables.  You can add images or colours as backgrounds, customise borders, fine tune sizes and whole manner of things that really put you in control.

Here, pictures are better than thousands of words. Just look a some of the properties that are available to you in tables.

View Table Editor	View Row/Cell Editors

You can create easy links to documents or other sites

Schools always need links to documents in their websites. 

Things like this.

• Printable consent form
• Education Department website
• Platypus Websites
• Newletters 

It is also handy to be able to add links in a pararagraph like this one that will send you a different page in the same site, like this 'home' link. But don't click it now or you will lose you place on this page.

Finally it is great to be able to help people send you an Email.

To create a link you just highlight the word you want to make link with, then click the Document or Link Icons.

Links to Websites	Links to Documents

The Document Icon copies a document (anything, even a PowerPoint) from your computer to the website and makes it available.  

The Link Icon lets you type in (or paste) the address of an existing web resource. (eg a website or email address.)

You have no technical problems

Your site is search engine friendly

Your site contains a spell checker

When you have finished adding content to the wordprocessor you can click the spell check button and perform a standard spell check before saving or at any other time.

View Spell Checker

Your site can contain feedback pages

Schools often provide information to parents and ask them to respond.  Platypus Websites provides the Locknkey Feedback form which gives you free space at the top to include whatever images or text or tables you might need and then provides a feedback from like this.

View Feedback Editor

To see a working feedback from click here.

Your site is backed up daily

You are not alone

extremely user friendly and versatile... "Largs Bay Schools have used the Platypus Locknkey system for our web page for the last two years. Previously our website was out of date, drab looking and frankly an embarrassment. We have found the Platypus system to be extremely user friendly and versatile. Using this system has allowed even the least ICT savvy people to contribute to our website. The Platypus system has enabled us to easily keep our website up to date with current information, photos and school events". David Chadwick PRINCIPAL Largs Bay Schools

very simple to implement.. For me, it has been an online information system managament solution that is very simple to implement, maintain expand and customise as the needs of the school change.  The simple 'Lock and Key' editing system empowers users to contribute to the school's growing need to keep our community informed and and to deliver learning through a medium gthat is readily accessible and intrinscially engaging and relevant to the lives of our children. Mr Frank Ranaldo, Director of Studies Rostrevor College South Australia

benefits right across the whole school .. We have been using Platypus Locknkey since 2004.  We use it for our website and our intranet.   We used to use DreamWeaver but that never took off, because the expertise was concentrated in too few people. Platypus Locknkey is so easy to use that every teacher can add pages or edit content if they want or need to.  We keep control over the sites by issuing editing rights carefully. Some teachers look after individual sections but all teachers use the sites daily to share and gather information.  We have extended our sites many times and they now form an integral part of almost everything we do.  Sometimes we wonder how we ever got on with them. If ever there was a product that actually delivered technological benefits right across the whole school then this is it. Mrs Susan Green Head of ITC Wilderness School

many features are highly appealing .. Our staff wanted an easy way to work on a school website. We tried training our staff to use some of web-authoring software available but they always found it too challenging. It ended up with several key people doing most of the work.  We decided to use the Platypus Locknkey System and we have found it to be in a professional looking, user-friendly format where people of every level of experience can participate. There are many features in the Locknkey System that are highly appealing to us. The ability to manage users, ensuring general access or staff only access as required has enabled us to cater for many different uses. The fact that the editing software is in such a familiar and easy to use style has demystified the whole process for our staff. We highly recommend Platypus Locknkey System for use in schools. Ms Tara Hendry ICT Coordinator Westbourne Park Primary School South Australia

already we have a very professional site .. We purchased Platypus Locknkey mid 2007 and already we have a very professional site that provides schools with information about the organisation, sport rules, programs and location maps. Editing is just like using a word processor except that when required Platypus also puts the page automatically on the menu for you. Its uses are growing all the time. The product is great and so is the support. Jill George Executing Officer Independent School Sport Association South Australia

Support calls.. Support calls have been dealt with in a courteous and professional manner, even when the problem is limited user knowledge. Mr Tom Fleming Network Manager Rostrevor College South Australia

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