Saving a Beacon of Hope

Having tweeked the kink in my WebQuest to a point where it's not perfect but usable, I've moved on to (queque "Stars Wars" theme music) The Final Project.

As a Rye Elementary service learning representative to Lighthouse Kids', a non-profit organization working to save and maintain New Hampshire's only offshore lighthouse, I'm going to re-build their website. I was talking with the retired teacher who started the program and she expressed frustration with the firm mananging their website in Boston. Her nonprofit pays them a flat fee of $250 a year to host it, then pays extra for the introductory audio on the home page that our class gave a thumbs-down to while reviewing websites, then they pay for any changes during the year because they are only allowed to update half the pages on the site themselves. Also, when they do make changes, often during the transition to publishing odd spacing or symbols appear.

As new as I am to making websites, I'm still optimistic that I can present them with a better option. My goal is to improve its look and readability, give the members of the nonprofit ablility to access the site themselves for updating, and make the whole process less expensive so more $$ goes toward improving the lighthouse. Eventually, I want to add a curriculum page for students and teachers, but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew yet.