There are no foolish questions and no one becomes a fool until they have stopped asking questions.

Questions are how we learn too, so we'd love to here from you.

• Hosting included
• New domain names available
• Transfer your old website content
• Fully accessible

Frequently Asked Questions

Listed below are some of the questions frequently put to us. Click on a question to be taken to the relevant answer. If your question isn't covered here, let us know.

General

• I already have a website, why do I need a new one?
• I already have a website, can I transfer the old content?
• Do your websites come with any warranty?
• Can you come and visit us?

Accessibility

• Who decides if my website is accessible?
• What happens if my website is not accessible?
• How can I make my website accessible?

Hosting & Domain Names

• What is a domain name?
• Do you provide website hosting and domain name registration?
• My school already has a domain name, do I need another?

Usability

• How can I make my website more useable?
• Is usability a legal requirement?

Standards Compliance

• What is 'standards compliance'?
• Is Standards Compliance a legal requirement?

 

 

 

Answers:

 

General

• Q. I already have a website, why do I need a new one?
  A. Depending on your priorities, there are a number of key questions to consider:
  
  • Could I save money every year with Green Schools Online?
  • Is my existing content system easy to use?
  • Does my content system limit what I can do?
  • Does my website showcase my school, presenting a professional, successful image to prospective pupils, parents and staff?
  • Does my website meet the best possible accessibility and usability standards?
  • Does your supplier fit to your sustainable procurement policy?
    
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• Q. I already have a website, can I transfer the old content?
  A. Yes we can quickly move any content you wish to retain from your old site to your new one. Back to top.
• Q. Do your websites come with any warranty?
  A. Yes. As we wish to build a lasting, sustainable relationship with our customers, all our websites are, as a minimum, satisfaction guaranteed.
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• Q. Can you come and visit us?
  A. We'd love to be able to visit and see every school for ourselves but, reluctantly, we have to decline. One way we can keep our prices so competitive and our carbon emissions so low is by minimising our travel. And in reducing the time we spend in trains or cars we can concentrate on providing excellent services to you by phone or email.
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Accessibility

• Q. Who decides if my website is accessible?
  A. You can run your website through one of the free software-based diagnosis tools (such as WebXact). These give a good idea of possible accessibility concerns, but as they are automated, are not totally reliable. Alternatively, Green Schools Online offer a free website accessibility analysis. The organisation in the UK performing the role of unofficial guardian of website accessibility is the RNIB.
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• Q. What happens if my website is not accessible?
  A. The RNIB has initiated legal proceedings against several companies whose websites were in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act. So far, all these cases have settled out of court. View a summary of the relevant requirements of the Act.
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• Q. How can I make my website accessible?
  A. You do not need to make a text-only version of your site; indeed the RNIB views this as discriminating against visibility-impaired users. There are over 50 checkpoints to consider if you want to make your website accessible. Green Schools Online can guide you through the essentials. Please see our accessibility statement.
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Hosting & Domain Names

• Q. What is a domain name?
  A. Put simply a domain name is the address that people use to find your school online; it's what you type in the browser's address bar to go to a specific website. For example, our domain name is: www.greenschoolsonline.co.uk
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• Q. Do you provide website hosting and domain name registration?
  A. Yes, domain name registration (should you require it) and hosting are included.
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• Q.My school already has a domain name, do I need another?
  A. Not necessarily. Most local authorities have provided schools with domain names. If you wish you can use this domain. However, some local authority names are very, very long. You may find it beneficial to register another, shorter name and use it alongside, or instead of, the local authority domain name.
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Usability

• Q. How can I make my website more useable?
  A. Although we do not agree with all of the recommendations of Jakob Nielsen, the web usability guru, we recognise that some of his comments are valid. Our sites are optimised to:
  - reduce download times
  - avoid frames
  - use logical menus
  - maintain consistency of layout, typography, capitalisation etc
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• Q. Is usability a legal requirement?
  A. There are no laws explicitly concerning usability, although the boundaries between accessibility, which is a legal requirement, and usability do overlap.
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Standards Compliance

• Q. What is 'standards compliance'?
  A. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), one of the web's controlling organisations, releases technical specifications, recommendations and other missives for Web infrastructure. To be standards-compliant means that your website is built following the published and relevant Web standards specifications.
  Because web standards incorporate and support accessibility compliance, a standards-compliant website is one step closer to accessibility compliance.
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• Q. Is Standards Compliance a legal requirement?
  A. In many jurisdictions, accessible sites are mandated by law.
  In summary, standards compliance offers the following benefits:
  - Accessibility
  - Faster page loads
  - Lower bandwidth usage
  - Ease of maintenance
  - More compatibility; less lock-in
  - More flexibility in selecting a web supplier or in-house staff
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