An Intro to Our New Website
Our new website was launched during the second week of Spring Break. We wanted to give our existing parents/caregivers a “tour” since there is some new functionality and some information has moved. However, never fear: If you’ve bookmarked pages on our site previously, those links should still work to take you to the new page location.
The first thing you will notice is that our main menu has slimmed down. No more unwieldy drop-downs! The first three links of the menu are largely focused on families who are thinking of applying to Cedars (but current families are welcome to check those pages out, too!). Links that are important for current families are on the further end of the menu or located in other areas (explained below).
We have kept three vital links in the top bar of our site (above the main menu as indicated below) so students and parents can quickly link to the library login, MyEdBC portal (for high school students and parents), and the Payments page.
As you can see above, the Main Menu will get you to vital areas such as Athletics, News, and Events. “Events” is now where our school calendar is housed, along with links to larger events we hold such as our annual golf tournament.
Of course, there are other pages that parents need to visit fairly often, and other resources you need quick access to. We have put all those links into our footer – so just take a quick scroll to the bottom of the site to reach places like the Parent Resources and Volunteers pages. We also have some links specifically for Cedars’ students and some general quick links to help you get and stay in touch with us in various capacities.
c) Sidebar
Another place to find links that pertain to parents will be in most of our sidebars. We have two sections of links: Quick Links and Seasonal Links.
This sidebar is included on the home page of our website and on pages that pertain to currently-attending families in general. One place you won’t find it is on our news page or news articles – but more on that in a bit.
Seasonal links will give everyone quick access to information on Christmas concerts, drama productions, grad events, and more. The links will appear and disappear at different times of the year, depending on what is coming up in the next few months.
Not shown to the left but ever-present in the site sidebars is our Growing Together capital campaign logo, which links to that page so you can see where our yearly donations are at and more!
d) Top of Long Pages
One more navigation feature appears on some of our longer pages. At the top, you will see a collapsed “On This Page” menu. Click the “show” link to open the menu and quickly jump to the section of the page you need.
2. Improved Search
One of the most exciting improvements to the site is our new search functionality. You will be able to find anything you want to look up! Click the magnifying glass at the end of the main menu to bring up the search window and enter your terms. Results will show up live as you type, or you can hit “enter” to view a listing of search results on a new page.
Go ahead and try it – search for “bell schedule” and see what you get! 😉
We know it was frustrating to use the search function previously, so we hope this will make a big difference to the ease in using the site.
3. Improved Mobile Browsing
Need to look up a date when you are out and about? Can’t remember what time to pick up your kids when you’re standing in the middle of the grocery store? Our new site should look and work better on your mobile phone! (Hint: Even the improved search works great on mobile!)
While most people still use desktop computers to visit the Cedars website, some people just prefer using their phones. We didn’t want to leave you out! Browsing, searching, and submitting forms is just a bit nicer now.
4. Sortable, Colourful News
Our news posts are now at a new URL – https://cedars.bc.ca/news – and all the news can be sorted by various tags which appear at the top of the news page.
You can click a tag to get all posts in that one category. Each post will also have a “related posts” section at the bottom of the post page, or you can use the sidebar navigation on any news post to choose a different tag or go back to all the news.
Don’t forget the awesome search tool that will also help you find information in our posts! Alternatively, if you only want to search the news, use the search bar at the top of the left sidebar on the News page (highlighted in light green to the right).
In the sidebar for the news section, we also have a sign-up button and a news tag menu (highlighted in yellow) for handy filtering of news posts while you are browsing the news.
You’ll also notice that all our articles have an image to go with them. How fun is that? 😉 Not only does it add a bit of life to the site, it will help you quickly identify the subject of each post.
5. Where Did All the Forms Go!?
We have completely removed the “Forms” page and have redistributed the forms to logical places around the website. As a parent, you’ll find many of the forms and documents that you need right on our Parent Resources page (https://cedars.bc.ca/parent-resources/). This page has always existed but is now even more important for current families, holding registration forms for new siblings, student/parent handbooks, school supply lists, hot lunch forms, and more. You’ll definitely want to keep the Parent Resources page in mind as a good resource!
After School Care forms have moved to the After School Care page (https://cedars.bc.ca/after-school-care/), Preschool forms have moved to the Preschool Program page (https://cedars.bc.ca/academics/preschool-program/), and Board and Society forms and documents have moved to our About Cedars page (https://cedars.bc.ca/about/). Of course, all of our volunteer forms are still on our Volunteers page (https://cedars.bc.ca/volunteers/).
6. Let’s Wrap This Up…
We invite you to take the new site for a test drive. Kick the tires, take some sharp turns, and try out the navigation devices. 😉 If you find a pothole in the road or get completely lost, please contact us (office@cedars.bc.ca or 250-564-0707) and we’ll be happy to help out!
