Please get in the middle of this fight. Thanks! (Full Version)

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rickir -> Please get in the middle of this fight. Thanks! (6/21/2006 21:31:58)

Our university has decided to make a few changes to their web site. The link I'm providing is an example of the newly proposed web page that would serve as a template for every academic program. Colorful, no?

http://www.southwestmsu.edu/academic_offerings/social_work.cfm

If you click on "Social Work Program" you will see an example of the current scheme. They plan to keep this one as well and believe these two schemes go well together. This essentially constitutes two "home" pages and is intentional.

The people who designed these pages believe that the new, colorful pages will draw students in and entice them to continue clicking on links. Our webmaster also believes that there should be two home pages for every academic program, stating that "the research indicates the first page will draw visitors to the second page" and keep them at our site.

I have offered some feedback about these changes, but I'm just an amateur with an opinion. To be fair, I think the proposed web pages are an embarrassment. I would like to get a few opinions from experienced/professional designers like yourself that I might offer to our administration and web committee. If you prefer, I won't use any names but I'd love to get some feedback for them to consider.

Thanks!
Rick



anderskorte -> RE: Please get in the middle of this fight. Thanks! (6/22/2006 4:01:20)

The gradient from navy blue to white is old-fashioned and looks untidy. It would be better is it had a touch of more greenish blue in the middle, like indigo blue.

On the other hand, the blue gradient is not very practical or flexible. The left part demands white type and vice versa. Have can you control where your black or white text finally is with varying resolutions and browser window sizes?

The colors do match with the rest of the page, but I would definitely lose the gradient. Also the colors in the new version are so dark the page looks much heavier and restless. The current scheme is more relaxed and inviting.

There has to be other options for using the red/blue scheme. The new proposal is too dark and looks unprofessional.



Tailslide -> RE: Please get in the middle of this fight. Thanks! (6/22/2006 4:35:19)

I don't like the blue/bright red/dark red combo either - the colours just don't sit well together. The old colour scheme was much better.

I think the navigation is a bit confusing and the navigation text is very small (plus because they're images you can't make them larger). The site also has a horizontal scrollbar at 800x600 for no good reason.

Here's a good US university website: http://www.hiram.edu/index.html (although also has a scrollbar!) but it's well coded using modern techniques (i.e CSS - not a ton of nested tables) nice to look at, informative, easy to move around etc.



billoutfrontforum -> RE: Please get in the middle of this fight. Thanks! (6/22/2006 11:32:17)

Although the colors are not my favorite, it might be enticing for the kids.

I'm a 50 year old who still thinks thongs are shoes.

My advice:

Do not reinvent the wheel.

Look over other university websites and pick out the one that is designed the way you like and then incorporate it with your ideas for SMSU. Hell, look at websites of foreign universities. Leverage the time that others before you have already spent.

And then by all means, let your boss take the credit. [8|]

KEEP IT SIMPLE. I never do. That's why I know simplicity is the shortest distance between two points; and why I know that reinventing the wheel is an exercise in futility.

Ockman's Razor is true.

Good luck.



curious monkey -> RE: Please get in the middle of this fight. Thanks! (6/22/2006 12:00:59)

quote:

I'm a 50 year old who still thinks thongs are shoes.


sir you need to come to South Beach, FL.... that will open you eyes to all possiblities of what one is or isn't....[8D]


But must agree the old colors work better together. the gradent (sp) doesn't translate well. on my screen it just looks like different colored bars jammed together. try a solid maybe and lighter colors.
listen to these guys above they konw of what they speak!



anderskorte -> RE: Please get in the middle of this fight. Thanks! (6/22/2006 15:11:16)

Not to say the current scheme is perfect either. The combination of brown and darkened-out yellow looks filthy.



jaybee -> RE: Please get in the middle of this fight. Thanks! (6/22/2006 17:07:49)

I have a MAJOR complaint about it. The catalogue link without so much as a by your leave or a warning of any kind starts downloading a pdf file. That is so unprofessional it's untrue.

It should take you to a page with some detail and then give you the option to download.

The new colours are quite frankly dreary, if they want colours for kids then those are not they. There is so little improvement over the existing site it's a waste of time unless they're completely redoing the code for some other reason.

Ask them what they're doing about accessibility (section 508). That should put the wind up them.



dpf -> RE: Please get in the middle of this fight. Thanks! (6/22/2006 18:41:35)

quote:

stating that "the research indicates the first page will draw visitors to the second page" and keep them at our site.
..spare me! these are college kids in 2006- they know tons of places on the web where they want to hang out (virtually speaking, of course) and you arent a business trying to sell a product so why would you care if they stay on your site and why would they want to? they will come when they need something and its the webmasters job to make that easy - what do students want from the university? well, 2x per year (or 3) they need to register for classes and buy text books - guess what? I looked for 5 minutes and couldnt find a link to BOOKSTORE - serve their needs! let them browse and order books on-line and forget the "new design" - waste of time - besides, hang with some 20somethings and see their taste in colors is none of those!!!!



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