redesigning lclark.edu

Morgan Grether

Tailored Web Experiences

I suppose it’s worth mentioning here one of the big questions about the Web: should a school have a single, unified website or should it create multiple “experiences” for different cohorts?The only place I can think of where we have done the latter is for newly admitted law students (”Inside Law“).For another example, take a look at the right column on the Gettysburg homepage, where they have separate logins for different cohorts who get a tailored Web experience.  Something to ponder… 

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Another site worth a look

Take a look at Bard’s site: http://www.bard.edu/  I enjoy the concept much more than the execution, but it is worth a look.  The pulldown menus at the top too easily get lost and one is left feeling that the only way to navigate (other than the search box) is the Flash people photos.  Having a top banner built in Flash with moving photos is all the rage these days.  I’m not much of a fan, as I think they can be hard to navigate.  Bard’s no exception in my mind.  Why click on this guy or that?  (Why not?)  The concept of emphasizing the “human element” of a college is a good one though.

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Web Metrics article

I saw this article this morning referenced in the uwebd listserv and thought it worth sharing. It is called, “The Top 10 Most Overused Metrics of 2007,” and it briefly covers some limitations about ways in which people judge websites.

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Some Unusual College Sites

Some of these links have been mentioned before, but I figured it would be worth making a little list here of intriguing approaches to college websites:

  • Oxford - just text lists (unless you click on a header)
  • Brown - unique rows style
  • Duke - simple to the Nth degree: just a search box with a few extras
  • MIT - rotating designs from student submissions
  • B.U. - sleek Flash with multiple columns, over and below

That is enough to get our minds working for now :-)

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Thinking outside the blog

I am a huge cheerleader for switching the content management system from Trillium to a blog software for various long-term, strategic reasons.  That said, it is worth thinking a little “outside the blog” (if you forgive the bad pun) before next steps are taken and ponder what is out there besides blogware that could be used.  And I mean, beyond all the typical CMS pitches that colleges get…Two thoughts come to mind: Wiki: A college site could be based on wiki software, where each department could collaborate on their content (and lock others out).  For an example of wikiware, see MediaWiki at http://www.mediawiki.org.  I have not heard of a college doing this, but I have used it for many projects and it was easy to see how it could scale up fairly well.Design Software:  By having people enter content into locked templates, I could see using web design software to create and maintain a site like blogware would.  I am thinking of things like RapidWeaver (http://wwwrealmacsoftware.com) or Sandvox (http://www. karelia.com).  I would never use them to create a site myself, but the cookie-cutter approach they offer could be promising for a college.File all of this under snack food for thought. 

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