2008 Woodie Awards
Much anticipated Web site hard to navigate
Issue date: 11/16/06 Section: Opinion/Editorial
- Page 1 of 1
We anxiously awaited for the unveiling of Webster's new home page. University President Richard Meyers said in April 2006 that the Web site would be overhauled by the end of summer 2006. Summer came to an end, school started - but the old Web site remained.
Director of Marketing and Interactive Media Dan Perkins told The Journal in the Sept. 28 issue that technical problems contributed to the delay of the home page's debut.
"We have made tremendous strides this summer, but a few technical issues forced us to push back our initial launch date slightly," Perkins said.
The premier date for the new and improved Web site was set for Nov. 1, but it wasn't there. However, on Nov. 9, another date promised for the Web site's release, something wonderful happened. After months of waiting, Webster's new home page was complete - the wait was finally over.
However, since the introduction of the new home page Nov. 9, we've had some problems. It has become more difficult to find what you're looking for through this new Web site. This lack of navigational skills on our part may be due to a sense of unfamiliarity with the site, but it shouldn't be that hard to locate things.
It also seems this new Web site really isn't all that new. Just a few clicks and links from the old Web site kick in. We realize this site is not fully complete and that it does take time to do update everything. However, it was disappointing to find the more popular and used links, like that of the campus bookstore, were not some of the first to be updated.
Another gripe is how visitors to the site have to search for faculty and staff in the campus directory. It takes a while to figure out where the campus directory is on the page and even longer to search for someone. It seems select departments pop up with a list of employees and photos, while others don't. We're not saying the photos or lists don't exist, - but if they do, we simply can't find them.
A trivial but noticeable change is the smaller size of the site itself. The old browser also didn't conform to the size of the window, but it was bigger. Does the new home page need to be so small? Couldn't the extra window space be utilized in some way?
The new Web site may be a step forward for Webster, but it seems everyone else has to take a few steps back when trying to use it.
Director of Marketing and Interactive Media Dan Perkins told The Journal in the Sept. 28 issue that technical problems contributed to the delay of the home page's debut.
"We have made tremendous strides this summer, but a few technical issues forced us to push back our initial launch date slightly," Perkins said.
The premier date for the new and improved Web site was set for Nov. 1, but it wasn't there. However, on Nov. 9, another date promised for the Web site's release, something wonderful happened. After months of waiting, Webster's new home page was complete - the wait was finally over.
However, since the introduction of the new home page Nov. 9, we've had some problems. It has become more difficult to find what you're looking for through this new Web site. This lack of navigational skills on our part may be due to a sense of unfamiliarity with the site, but it shouldn't be that hard to locate things.
It also seems this new Web site really isn't all that new. Just a few clicks and links from the old Web site kick in. We realize this site is not fully complete and that it does take time to do update everything. However, it was disappointing to find the more popular and used links, like that of the campus bookstore, were not some of the first to be updated.
Another gripe is how visitors to the site have to search for faculty and staff in the campus directory. It takes a while to figure out where the campus directory is on the page and even longer to search for someone. It seems select departments pop up with a list of employees and photos, while others don't. We're not saying the photos or lists don't exist, - but if they do, we simply can't find them.
A trivial but noticeable change is the smaller size of the site itself. The old browser also didn't conform to the size of the window, but it was bigger. Does the new home page need to be so small? Couldn't the extra window space be utilized in some way?
The new Web site may be a step forward for Webster, but it seems everyone else has to take a few steps back when trying to use it.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Brian Kennelly
Brian Kennelly
posted 11/15/06 @ 11:04 PM CST
What might be the digital version of 'beauty is skin deep'?
Nilsen Turan-Kennedy
posted 11/25/06 @ 12:16 PM CST
The new website looks very professional and well prepared indeed with the detailed pages on degree offerings, which were not there previously. I don't think it is hard to find anything on there. (Continued…)
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