The redesign project is moving along. We have been working on implementing the graphics you have seen with actual HTML/CSS code. There is much progress to show, so we have provided a link to a sneak preview of the new homepage.
We still have work to do....the links don't actually go anywhere yet, back-end systems (like alerts and people finder) are not hooked up yet, the highlights banner does not rotate and we have some tweaking to do with the spacing. But a lot has been accomplished. The page is operational in IE 7, 8, and the more recent versions of Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera. Our goal was to provide a clean (table free) layout, with minimal required client side scripting.
We are working on a system for easily refreshing content in the highlights and news/events section. This will include a way for the ETSU community to suggest news/events/highlights so that everyone on campus and in the community will know about the great things going on at ETSU.
We hope you enjoy the new look of the ETSU homepage. If you have problems viewing the page in your browser, please post a note with details so we can check it out. Please note, the page may be a little slow to load. This is expected, and won't be a factor when the page goes live.
We will be posting the 2nd level pages....so stay tuned!
Friday, October 29, 2010
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Not as esthetically pleasing as original. Where are the depictions of the mountains we have all grown to love. While the underlying design may provide enhanced performance the overall impression is generic. Look at the following links for comparison:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vt.edu/
http://www.duke.edu/
http://www.wfu.edu/
http://www.unc.edu/index.htm
http://www.usc.edu/
http://www.sc.edu/
http://www.uoregon.edu/
http://web.mit.edu/
http://www.yale.edu/
http://www.washington.edu/
http://www.harvard.edu/
http://www.ou.edu/web.html
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/
http://www.fsu.edu/
In each case we can see a strong identity - The use of space by FSU is very creative. All tell a story of accomplishment and pride. Maybe we would not have to print posters and t-shirts stating "ETSU Pride" if we demonstrated some of our accomplishments on our home page.
Look at this and compare with our Goldlink and D2L access pages. http://www.csun.edu/?col1=open#CollapsiblePanel1
Look at LSUs treatment of their 150 year commemorative. http://www.lsu.edu/
Could we add a link to "Libraries" next to the Goldlink link?
Thanks for your efforts.
John Clouse (zjwc26)
I agree with John. He makes a lot of good points; however, one thing he did not make mention of was that of all the web pages he has listed the ones that were most appeasing to the eye were the ones that had a colored background. The white background of the new web page makes it difficult to look at. I also feel that the ETSU logo should be near the top of the page next to the school name. There should also be a slide show, showing ETSU's strengths like the nursing program, number one in the state of Tennessee and ranked fifth nationally. I also agree with the library link being at the top on the front page.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they can do much about the D2L and the Goldlink pages. D2L is a privately contracted company. It isn't even hosted on ETSU's servers. Goldlink is also a private application but it is hosted on ETSU's servers. D2L is used by every school in the TBR system and other than coloring they are identical. Goldlink is also used by most other schools only by a different name such as Norstar at Northeast State.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to compare our school to the pages mentioned though. They have bigger budgets and more people in their UIT departments.
We can't even afford a football team.
My question is will the subpages actually have information. It's frustrating to click a link and see nothing but white space. Also will all departments line up to actually make the website look reasonable? Right now the Department of Psychology, the Department of Human Development and Learning and the Special Education Department look like they came from three different websites.
A very minor suggestion: Under "Quicklinks" (shouldn't that be two words?), "D2l" should be "D2L."
ReplyDeleteThere is so much empty space at the top Banner and then the info you want is scrunched up below. Suggest tightening this up. I agree that we should not lose the mountain signature. I also agree with the difficulty of reading grey print on a white background - difficult for me and I would think not user-friendly for visaully impaired. I do think that it appears that the people finder and site search design is a big improvement over what we have now.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's a start. I don't really see any difference from the old page. Just a reorganization. I appreciate that "newness" is hard to achieve with all the competing desires from inside the university.
ReplyDeleteI keep hoping somebody, someday, will be able to rip it all out and start over.
My complaint with the current system is that if you don't know where to look you're stuck staring at wall. I used to get too many phone calls from people who just couldn't get past the front door.
Charles Moore (formerly COMM)