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Home > Boards and Easels > About Whiteboards

White Boards - The Popular Alternative to Chalkboards

- Wall or easel mounted whiteboards are attractive and functional in schools, offices, libraries

Using white boards for outstanding presentations. It took almost 80 years after the first usage of the chalkboard in an educational setting for the white board to make its popular appearance. However, since its introduction these boards have quickly evolved into a significant presentation tool.

Chalkboards have been slowly replaced by whiteboards. Otherwise known as dry-erase boards and marker boards, the first of these white-styled boards began appearing in American business meeting rooms and corporations in the early 1980s. Within 10 years a small inroad had been made into educational institutions, but demand accelerated most dramatically in the late 1990s. By the end of that decade, 21% of all American schools had begun converting from chalkboards to dry erase boards. Now, most school designers no longer even consider a chalkboard in their new school designs unless specific requirements are called out by the institutions.

What are the benefits of using these boards?

Initially, the appeal of these markerboards is driven by factors including:

White Boards & Planners

• The clean, stylish look of their clear, white presentation surface.

• The substitution of dry-erase markers for chalk, which eliminates the drying dust on the hands and in the room, safeguards the comfort and health of people who are allergic to the dust, protects computers from chalk dust damage.

• The wide variety of color marker choices and the more vibrant visual presentation and stimulation possible as a result.

• The ability of some specialized whiteboard designs to perform double-duty as effective projection screens in a room.

Other important reasons for the gains these boards have made within business, educational, government, media, trading, and other organizations have been their:

• Versatility of selection and adaptable usage resulting from the variety of manufacturing materials and processes that are available.

• Short term use can be accommodated by low cost models made with inexpensive plastic surfaces.

• More durable, long term, high-intensity usage applications are handled with porcelain on steel board surfaces.

• Easy, flexible maneuverability and placement options.

• Material durability and safety.

• Low and high-gloss options.

• Availability of stylish designs

• Availability of products built to accept several different types of writing implements including chalk, pencils, permanent markers, or crayons as well as dry erase pens.

• Ability to marry these boards with advancing projection and computer technologies.

Children's Easels

Presentation Boards

While the models popular in the early 1980's had surfaces that were plastic-coated and used solely as a writing surface, whiteboard innovation has advanced steadily ever since.

These specialty white boards have permanent lines, squares and other graphics for use in education and offices where special graphic is needed. Lines for penmanship,  music notes or mathematics are great educational tools in any classroom.

Following developments have greatly added to the popularity of whiteboards:

• Improved surface materials and markers have essentially eliminated "shadows" with proper cleaning and care

• New materials that can be used as markerboards and at the same time as non-reflective projection surfaces for your LCD projections.

• Magnetic surfaces gain you an additional advantage and flexibility for planning purposes.

• Fused lines allow specialized use for musical scores, penmanship practice, calculations based on grid and coordinates, as well as maps.

• Reversible displays can offer you double-sided whiteboard writing surface or combine a whiteboard on one side with a cork or chalkboard on the reverse.

• Light-weight materials let you utilize specialized whiteboards as convenient desktop planners at your desk without the potential mess of chalk dust.

• Interactive white boards have been the latest, specialized innovation, combining the power of a projector, computer and whiteboard and allowing the user to touch the board screen to access all the information possible on a computer.

Dry-erase markerboards have improved in material and quality since their very early beginnings over 20 years ago.

Daily cleaning helps ensure many years of spotless, clean presentations.  While you should always read and follow care instructions (particularly those that come with the interactive or specialty technology-linked products), the standard white markerboards that are so widely prevalent in businesses, organizations, and educational institutions can be easily cared for by erasing the notes with the proper eraser, cleaning it with only a soft damp cloth, and allowing it to be thoroughly dried prior to writing on it again.  When cleaning cannot be done on a daily basis, or if this damp washing is not able to be scheduled, spray cleaning products for various types of whiteboards are widely available.

Use the correct eraser. Use an eraser designed for your board's surface material rather than a chalk eraser, paper towels, or regular cloth towel to erase your work. This will help avoid damage to your writing surface. Wash your markerboard eraser regularly with water and make sure it is completely dried before using it again to erase.

Did someone accidentally use a permanent marker on your dry-erase surface? No problem!  Write over the permanent ink with a dry erase marker and allow it to sit for a few minutes.  Then, just erase it all.  A second effort may be required to remove the image more definitively.  Then wash your board.

Do not use standard household, industrial, and abrasive cleansing agents. These are NOT recommended for use on dry erase boards. Doing so may scratch, cause a "build-up" of the agent on your board, or result in other damage to its vital surface.