Things We ♥️ at SNO Sites
Love is in the air…
And we’re not just talking about Valentine’s Day!
This may not come as much of a surprise, but we SNO nerds look at a lot of websites every day. I mean…a lot. And every time we come across something we really love on a site, we share it with each other. From dancing logos to unique layouts to cute animal photos, our communications are filled with gems that we find on your websites every single day.
We may be nerdy, but we’re not greedy. So, in honor of the holiday of love, here are just a handful of the things our SNO staff has seen recently that had us reaching for the heart eyes emoji.
Festive Pull Quotes (Logansport High School)
Sometimes little details, like the custom green and red pull quote colors here to match the Christmas story theme, go a long way.
Themed Story Packaging (Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts)
Let the fun (and seasonally appropriate) colors continue! Check out this creative story package, complete with a fun interactive quiz at the end.
Related Content with a Twist (Westwood High School)
This was a new one we’d never seen – using an Infobox to present all kinds of other related content (quizzes, ranking lists, etc.). By the way, in case you’re wondering, we are in our “reflection era” over here at SNO.
No Spoilers, Please (Hagerty High School)
Don’t you hate it when you accidentally come across a spoiler? Us too. That’s why we love this other creative use of our Infobox tool to hide A&E spoilers.
Covering All the Bases (Strath Haven High School)
Yet another creative example for how to use the Infobox tool. This time, it shines in organizing a comprehensive About page.
A Collection of Collections (Boston College)
Not to be outdone by the Infobox, the Story Collection tool gets its moment in the sun here. This page highlighting election coverage features five of them!
Sports Recap, but Make It Interactive (Brea Olinda High School)
We’ve seen sports recaps formatted a variety of different ways, but the use of a Timeline here (included as part of our Site Booster bundle) provides a unique and very detailed chronicle.
Tracking Major Story Updates (Iowa City West High School)
And speaking of cool Site Booster tools, this story highlights one potential use of the Live Coverage tool – adding updates to a “regular” story after publishing.
Do You Know What Happened Last Week? (Southwest Career and Technical Academy)
Well, do you? We’ve seen a few creative examples of the quizzes so far in this list, but publishing one weekly to keep your readers in the know? Genius. This site uses a third party plugin, but Site Booster subscribers can also use the SNO Quiz feature.
Be the Campus Hero (Lafayette College)
Listen, although none of the SNO staff lives anywhere near here, we sure know which benches we’d sit on if we ever were to visit!
Podcast Scripts (St. Paul Academy and Summit School)
If you’re thinking about how to make your site more accessible (which, let’s be honest, you should be), adding a transcript to your podcast episodes is one good option…
Story Audio or Text-to-Speech Option (Gulliver Preparatory School)
…and so is adding a text-to-speech or audio option to your text-based stories. This example uses a plugin, but you could also record these yourselves.
Custom Placeholder Ads (Cherry Hill High School East)
Custom Placeholder Ads (Winona State University)
Did you know that if you’re using SNO Ads, you can upload your own filler or placeholder ads? These are just a few great examples of what that might look like. Learn how to do it here.
Swing Big with Site Design (Sentinel High School)
Pretty sure it took us a while to pick our jaws up off the floor when we first saw this site’s design. It’s unique, it’s creative, and we know it took a lot of hard work. Bravo!
Hedgehogs (Prospect High School)
Chinchillas (Granville High School)
Puppies (South Windsor High School)
Birds (California State University Stanislaus)
Chickens (McKinley High School)
And last but not least, pretty much any animal story (like these ones) is sure to catch our eye! We’re betting your readers will love them, too.