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Add a QR code to your homepage. Be sure to add a call to action button near your code

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TED Talk - 9 Creative New Year's Resolutions

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TED Talk - 9 Creative New Year's Resolutions

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Complete and turn in TED Talk Worksheet. Incorporate the video you chose into 2 of your blog posts.

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Feel like you start the new year ready to reinvent your life, only to find that, a month later, you've given up on everything and are living a life that's totally indistinguishable from last year?

Cue the guilt spiral, and February already looks bleak.

But maybe the problem isn't you. Maybe you're just bored of making and breaking the same resolutions over and over again. You know the drill: Lose weight; eat better; work less; exercise more. It's no wonder you're uninspired to keep them going past January.

So why not break the rut this year? Try a new resolution. Do something fun, creative, interesting.

Here are some suggestions, inspired by TED Talks:

Watch 10 movies that were written or directed by women.

If most of the movies you've seen are American, 95 percent of them were likely directed by men and up to 90 percent likely had male leading characters. But why does this matter? "[Stories are] the way we understand the world and our place in it. They're the way we develop empathy for people who have experiences different than our own," says actress Naomi McDougall Jones. "And right now, all of that is being funneled at us through the prism of this one perspective."

Studies show that the movies you watch affect your career choices, your relationships, your mental health, your sense of identity and more. So, commit to watching more films made by women and see how your perspective changes. Visit moviesbyher.com for an easily searchable database filled with women-directed movies.

Choose one person you disagree with and take them out to lunch.

Most of us are guilty of "other-ing" people who think or act differently than we do. As a result, we stop seeing their humanity and focus on their differences. Is there anyone you find yourself judging or negatively stereotyping because of their views? Invite them to lunch. However, before you meet, agree on some ground rules - that neither of you will persuade, defend or interrupt. Be curious, conversational and real. And be sure to listen.

When Elizabeth Lesser did this, she and her lunch mate found they had a newfound respect for each other. "Neither of us had tried to change the other, but we also hadn't pretended that our differences were just going to melt away after a lunch," she says. "Instead, we had taken our first steps together, past our knee-jerk reactions."

Schedule weekly time to be bored.

If your brain is always occupied, then you're probably missing out on some of your best ideas. "When you get bored, you ignite a network in your brain called the 'default mode,'" says podcaster Monoush Zomorodi. "The default mode is where we connect disparate ideas, we solve some of our most nagging problems, and we do something called 'autobiographical planning.' This is when we look back at our lives, we take note of the big moments, we create a personal narrative, and then we set goals and we figure out what steps we need to take to reach them."

So put down your smartphone, stop playing Candy Crush, and schedule some time to do nothing.

Become pen pals with someone in prison.

Sometimes, it just takes a letter to transform a life. When Marlon Peterson was in prison, he began receiving letters filled with stories and cartoons from schoolchildren. They made him feel like he mattered, and he also shared them with two of his friends who were inmates. Now they're all published writers, gun violence prevention advocates, and youth program innovators - and Marlon says he owes it to the pen-pal program. "It boosted my sense of worthiness. It gave me a sense of what I could contribute to this planet," he says.

Once a month, gather some friends to write letters to people at a local prison. Your words might provide the motivation and hope that they need to rebuild their lives.

Do one thing that scares you - knowing you'll get rejected.

Want to get over a fear of rejection? Jump head first into it. For 30 days, find a new way to get rejected every day. Do what author Jia Jiang did and ask for a "burger refill" the next time you're at a restaurant. Or, ask a stranger for $100. By the end, you'll desensitize yourself from the pain of rejection - a pain that could be holding you back from goals you want to accomplish.

"Rejection has bothered me my whole life because I was running away from it," says Jiang. "Then I started embracing it. I turned that into the biggest gift of my life."

Talk to a stranger every week.

It's easy to get swept up in your routine and forget about the people around you. This year, commit to talking to strangers - whether it's the person waiting in line with you at the grocery store, someone you see everyday on your morning commute, or a parent at your child's school. Even if it's just "hello" or a "how are you doing today," those little interactions can brighten your day and make another person feel seen.

"When you talk to strangers, you're making beautiful interruptions into the expected narrative of your daily life and theirs," says Kio Stark. You might just be surprised by the new and unexpected connections you make.

Celebrate one of your failures with friends.

Many of the biggest success stories begin with a risky, audacious idea, but often we let our fear of failure prevent us from trying at all. Instead, embrace it. Think of something you royally screwed up - and then celebrate it. It'll encourage you to test out more moonshot ideas without worrying about what people will think if your plans don't work out.

Try inviting your friends to dinner to celebrate one of your failures. Make a night of it, have fun with it, and see what you're able to accomplish when you stop fearing failure.

Say yes to everything for one month.

Try an experiment: say "yes" to everything that scares you. Raise your hand to take on a new project at work. Speak at a town hall about an issue close to your heart. Go to that intimidating kickboxing class your friend keeps inviting you to.

When TV producer Shonda Rhimes committed to saying "yes" to things that made her nervous, she stretched her comfort zone more than she could've imagined. "The very act of doing the thing that scared me undid the fear, made it not scary," she says. "'Yes' changed my life. 'Yes' changed me."

Buy fruits and vegetables that don't look perfect.

Ever go to the grocery store and inspect every piece of produce until you find the most flawless one? Our desire for perfect fruits and vegetables leads to a ton of food waste. A full third of our food is thrown away. "We're not talking about rotten stuff," says activist Tristram Stuart. "We're talking about good, fresh food."

This year, try to choose fruits and vegetables that look a little busted - not rotten, just imperfect. They'll be perfectly edible, and you'll do your part to help reduce food waste.

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Cue the guilt spiral, and February already looks bleak. But maybe the problem isn't you. Maybe you're just bored of making and breaking the same resolutions over and over again. You know the drill: Lose weight; eat better; work less; exercise more. It's no wonder you're uninspired to keep them going past January.

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December 4-10

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Hour of Code

This year, we're taking Hour of Code to new heights by offering coding opportunities that encompass both artificial intelligence (AI) and non-AI components.

Want to keep learning? Go beyond an hour

Teachers: Host an hour or read the How-To Guide

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Use computer science to explore and learn about AI!

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Be sure to create external tabs for each article.
Oct. 9-13 - Article #1
Oct. 16-20 - Article #2
Oct. 23-27 - Article #3
Oct. 30-Nov.3 - Article #4
Nov. 6-10 - Article #5
Nov.13-17 - Article #6 & #7
Nov. 20-24 - No articles
Nov. 27 - Dec.1 - Article #8, #9,                                          #10
Dec. 4-8 - Article #11, #12, #13
Dec. 11-15-  Article #14,#15, #16
Dec. 18-20 -  Article #17,#18, #19
Jan. 1-5 -  Article #20,#21, #22
Jan 8-12 -  Article #23,#24, #25
Jan 15-19 -  Article #26,#27, #28
Jan 22-26 -  Article #29 & #30

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TED Talk - Beware online "filter bubbles"

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TED Talk - Beware online "filter bubbles"

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Complete and turn in TED Talk Worksheet.

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As web companies strive to tailor their services (including news and search results) to our personal tastes, there’s a dangerous unintended consequence: We get trapped in a “filter bubble” and don’t get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview. Eli Pariser argues powerfully that this will ultimately prove to be bad for us and bad for democracy.

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Quote

CTA - you will be quizzed on CTA's.

QR Code

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Oct. 9-13 - BP  #1 & #2
Oct. 16-20 - BP #3 & #4
Oct. 23-27 - BP #5 & #6
Oct. 30-Nov.3 - BP #7 & #8
Nov. 6-10 - BP #9 & #10
Nov.13-17 - #11 & #12
Nov. 20-24 - No BP
Nov. 27 - Dec.1 - #13 & #14
Dec. 4-8 - #15 & #16
Dec. 11-15-#17 & #18
Dec. 18-20- #19 & #20
Jan. 1-5- #21 & #22
Jan 8-12 - #23 & #24
Jan 15-19- #25 & #26 & 27
Jan 22-26#28 & #29 & 30

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1. Create a Weebly account.

2. Choose a topic and select a theme.

3. Publish your website and send your website's link to my Web Design Info 1 & 2 padlet.

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September- Labor Day, Back to School, Grandparents Day, Fall Season
October- Breast Cancer Awareness, Domestic Violence Awareness, Sweetest Day, Halloween
November - Election Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday
December - Winter, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years Eve.
January - New Years, MLK Day,

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12 Critical Elements Every Homepage Must Have

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12 Critical Elements Every Homepage Must Have

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Make sure to complete pt.1, pt. 2, and pt.3 and submit into edmodo.

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If you're considering a website redesign or are wondering how to generate more leads from your website, it's a good idea to start with your homepage.

Serving as your company's virtual front door, this page is generally responsible for drawing in a majority of your website's traffic. And despite its prominence, many businesses struggle to optimize it properly.

You see, your homepage needs to wear a lot of hats. Rather than treating it like a dedicated landing page built around one particular action, it should be designed to serve different audiences, from different origins. And in order to do so effectively, it needs to be built with purpose. In other words, you'll need to incorporate elements that attract traffic, educate visitors, and invite conversions.

So to improve the performance of your homepage, check out the following infographic detailing 12 critical elements every homepage must have.

12 Critical Elements Every Website Homepage Must Have

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What You Should Include in Your Website Homepage Design

1) Headline

Within three seconds, a website needs to tell visitors what the business has to offer. That's where your headline comes in. It may only be a few words, but it's one of the most important piece of copy on your website.

Many different types of people might visitor your website, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a few words that hit home for everyone. Instead, the folks at KISSmetrics recommend writing your headline to target the 20-35% of those people that are most likely to be happy with your product.

Keep the headline itself clear and simple. Dropbox's headline is a great example: "Securely share, sync, and collaborate." It's simple, yet powerful -- no need to decode jargon to figure out what Dropbox really does. Plus, the word "securely" touches on a pain point for people looking for file managers. Notice how they repeat that word again in the sub-headline to really drive the point home.

2) Sub-headline

Your sub-headline should supplement the headline by offering a brief description of what you do or what you offer. This can be done effectively by zeroing in on a common pain point that your product or service solves.

To optimize your headlines and text for mobile, use larger fonts to give visitors a better experience. Small fonts could force mobile visitors to pinch and zoom in order to read and interact with the content on your site. Our advice? Make your headlines and sub-headlines at least 22 px, and body copy at least 14 px.

Here's an example of a great sub-headline from Podio: "Try the customisable work management solution leaders trust and employees love working on." It hones in on a few common pain points for work management solutions by assuring visitors it's customisable, trustworthy, and enjoyable to work with.

3) Primary Calls-to-Action

The goal of your homepage is to compel visitors to dig deeper into your website and move them further down the funnel. Include two to three calls-to-action above the fold that direct people to different stages of the buying cycle -- and place them in spots that are easy to find.

These CTAs should be visually striking, ideally in a color that contrasts from the color scheme of your homepage, while still fitting in with the overall design. Keep the copy brief -- no more than five words -- and action-oriented, so it compels visitors to click whatever you're offering. Examples of CTA copy are "Sign up," "Make an appointment," or "Try it for free."

To optimize your CTAs for mobile users, make sure it's big enough to easily touch with a finger. If you're using a button, make it a minimum size of 44 px by 44 px so it's big enough for people to press with their finger. Consider adding whitespace around your CTA, too, so mobile visitors can easily tap it without accidentally clicking on something they didn't mean to.

Uber has a few great Primary CTAs on their homepage that are geared toward different personas: "Become a Driver" for potential drivers, and "Sign Up" for potential riders. Notice how starkly the bright blue CTAs contrast with the dark background.

4) Supporting Image

Most people are visual. Make sure to use an image (or even a short video) that clearly indicates what you offer. Use images that capture emotion and cause action, and avoid cheesy stock photos. ( Here's a list of 17 great places to find free stock photos online.)

To will do the trick.) Also, optimize your images for mobile users, use high-quality images that have a reduced file size. (HubSpot customers don't need to worry about this, as images uploaded to HubSpot's software are automatically compressed. Otherwise, t ools like TinyPNG add alt text to your images in case mobile devices block any images by default.

The 4 Rivers Smokehouse homepage is a great example of emotional imagery: It features a series of short, high definition, and mouthwatering videos that play on a loop behind a simple headline, sub-headline, and primary CTA:

5) Benefits

It's not only important to describe what you do, but also why what you do matters. Prospects want to know about the benefits of buying from you because that's what'll compel them to stick around.

Keep the copy lightweight and easy to read, and speak the language of your customers. Evernote does a great job of listing features on their homepage in a way that's compelling, visually pleasing, and easy to understand:

6) Social Proof

Social proof is a powerful indicator of trust. Your product or service could be the best in the world, and it's okay to lay that claim -- it's just that people may not believe you unless they hear it from other people, too. And that's exactly what social proof does.

Include just a few of your best (short) quotes on the homepage, and link to case studies if applicable. Adding a name and photo gives these testimonials more credibility. Codecademy nails this on their homepage, and you can click into any one story to read the whole case study:

7) Navigation

The design and content in your homepage navigation could mean the difference between a website conversion and a bounce. To decrease bounce rate, give your visitors a clear path into your site from the homepage. Make the navigation menu visible at the top of the page, and organize the links in a hierarchical structure.

No one knows your website better than those who helped design it, so be sure to conduct user tests to make sure it's simple and intuitive for visitors to find what they're looking for on your site. Include a search box if you can. ( Read this blog post for more helpful website navigation tips.)

Here's an example of clear, well structured navigation design from Geek Squad's homepage:

8) Content Offer

To generate even more leads from your homepage, feature a really great content offer, such as a whitepaper, ebook, or guide. Folks who may not be ready to buy might rather download an offer that gives them more information about a topic they're interested in. If you need inspiration, here are 23 different content types to pick from.

Below is an excerpt from IMPACT's homepage. Below the fold, they offer four free ebooks on their own growth hacking secrets:

9) Secondary Calls-to-Action

Include secondary CTAs on your homepage to offer additional conversion opportunities for prospects who aren't interested in your primary objective. Think of them like the contingency plan: They offer another path for visitors who are not yet ready for something as high-commitment as you're asking.

While your primary CTAs should be above the fold, place secondary CTAs below the fold to give visitors things to click on when they scroll down. For example, below the fold on Trustev 's homepage, you'll find three, clearly labeled calls-to-action that give folks who've scrolled that far more options to click on. These secondary CTAs target three different categories -- retailers, virtual goods, and financial -- that appeal to three different buyer personas.

10) Features

In addition to benefits, list some of your key features. This gives people more of an understanding of what's provided by your products and services. Again, keep the copy light and easy to ready. Dropbox for Business, for example, doesn't shy away from showing off a features matrix right on their homepage below the fold.

11) Resources

Again, most visitors to your website won't be ready to buy ... yet. For folks who are looking for more information, offer a link to a resource center where they can browse relevant information. Not only does this keep them on your webpage for longer, but it also helps you establish your credibility as a thought leader in your industry.

KnowledgeVision makes a resources link one of their secondary CTAs below the fold. Notice how each of these secondary CTAs cover multiple stages in the buying cycle: a demo for people close to buying, examples for people who are interested but want more information, and resources for folks closer to the top of the funnel.

12) Success Indicators

In addition to customer success stories, both awards and recognition can also help inspire a good first impression. Is your company a critically acclaimed restaurant? Were you voted best new app this year? Let your homepage visitors know of your accomplishments. Like social proof, it'll give your business more credibility to those who don't know you.

On Cleanify's homepage, for example, you'll find the names of famous publications that have written about them, like The New York Times and TechCrunch:

Don't Forget to Optimize For Mobile

Whether you're tweaking your homepage or redesigning it completely, be sure that it is fully optimized for mobile. Not only are mobile-friendly websites better for SEO thanks to Google's algorithm change in April 2015, but they also make for a much better user experience for the increasing number of people browsing the web on their mobile devices.

Making your homepage mobile-friendly includes optimizing your headlines, sub-headlines, and body text copy, your calls-to-action, your images, and more. Here are some mobile optimization tips to get you started.

Does your website's homepage have all or most of these elements? Are there any we missed? Share with us in the comments.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in January 2012 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

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12 Critical Elements Every Website Homepage Must Have [Infographic]

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If you're considering a website redesign or are wondering how to generate more leads from your website, it's a good idea to start with your homepage. Serving as your company's virtual front door, this page is generally responsible for drawing in a majority of your website's traffic.

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TED Talk- How Giant Websites Design For You

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TED Talk- How Giant Websites Design For You

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Complete and turn in TED Talk Worksheet.

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Margaret Gould Stewart: How giant websites design for you (and a billion others, too)

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Facebook's "like" and "share" buttons are seen 22 billion times a day, making them some of the most-viewed design elements ever created. Margaret Gould Stewart, Facebook's director of product design, outlines three rules for design at such a massive scale-one so big that the tiniest of tweaks can cause global outrage, but also so large that the subtlest of improvements can positively impact the lives of many.