Web Pages that Suck.
Hopefully you don't think the newish College Web Page sucks.
Visit the College Website at http://www.nvcc.edu/.
The Week 6 Handout has links to Jakob Nielsen's Design Mistakes and Design Good Deeds. Use at least 5 (FIVE) of Jakob Nielsen's criteria to evaluate the college website.
Post to this forum with five critiques of the college website. Feel free to discuss each other's observations.
6 comments:
Hello Instructor Todd and LBR 110 students,
(I apologize for this lengthy post)
Except for the 5th entry, I do not think that there is any room for improvement of the Northern Virginia Community College website. I will evaluate the college website using at least 5 of Jakob Nielsen’s criteria found in his list titled “Ten Good Deeds In Web Design”.
The 1st good deed in Web design is the following:
“Placing your name and logo on every page and make the logo a link to the home page.”
As we all know, a college is not a single person or a logo. It is like a corporation in the sense that it is like a single entity, having a single name and having a single logo. After clicking around, I noticed that the college has a single name (Northern Virginia Community College) and the college’s colors are green and yellow. When we think of “logos”, we think that they are pictures or graphic elements; I did not find that kind of logo on the homepage or on its links. However I did notice that “NOVA” is by the name of the college on the homepage, which I believe is an abbreviation for “Northern Virginia”. To some, like myself, it may be considered a logo.
I clicked on many items on the homepage, and found out that in order to get back to the homepage, I must click on the name and logo of the college (which was usually located in the upper left corner of the page). In my opinion, the college has fulfilled Jakob Nielsen’s “first good deed in Web design”.
The 2nd good deed in Web design is the following:
“Provide search if the site has more than 100 pages.”
Although I have not manually counted, I am quite sure the college’s website has more than 100 pages. The homepage does include a “search box” located on the middle-upper right-side of the page. This is good because if a person does not find what they are looking for by clicking here and there, then they may find it after conducting a search using the search box. One of the quickest ways to find what you are looking for on a website is to conduct a search using a search box much like one conducts a search in a search engine. In my opinion, the college has fulfilled Jakob Nielsen’s “second good deed in Web design”.
The 4th good deed in Web design is the following:
“Structure the page to facilitate scanning and help users ignore large chunks of the page in a single glance.”
The college’s website is compliant with the 4th good deed in Jakob Nielsen’s “Ten Good Deeds In Web Design”. When one searches for information starting at the college’s homepage, one usually is looking for a keyword that will lead them to the information they want, and in the process of doing so, the user’s brain ignores and considers irrelevant all information that is NOT the keyword. Many people avoid using the search box for the following reasons: they didn’t notice it was there, they don’t want to touch the keyboard, and they would rather “click away” using the mouse. The homepage facilitates scanning by displaying large pictures near the center of the screen that can not be clicked on. As more and more people use the college’s website, they will learn to ignore that data and search for information by clicking. Another way the homepage facilitates scanning is by making the homepage visually appealing; it does this by incorporating the college’s colors, which are green and yellow, into the background, while the text is in white. The bottom half of the homepage is different; the text is in black while the headings are hyperlinks that are in blue (so the headings do stick out). In my opinion, the college has fulfilled Jakob Nielsen’s “fourth good deed in Web design”.
The 5th good deed in Web design is the following:
“Instead of cramming everything about a product or topic into a single, infinite page, use hypertext to structure the content space into a starting page that provides an overview and several secondary pages that each focus on a specific topic. The goal is to allow users to avoid wasting time on those subtopics that don't concern them.”
The college’s website definitely portrays the above mentioned characteristic. The homepage includes broad terms and blue hyperlinks that are the starting place for what many students are looking for. There is even a sort of “tracker” that records your progress throughout the site. The homepage is not cluttered; the homepage does not “cram everything” together, but instead provides a starting point that’s very useful, even to a novice. In my opinion, the college has fulfilled Jakob Nielsen’s “fifth good deed in Web design”.
The 8th good deed in Web design is the following:
“Use link titles to provide users with a preview of where each link will take them, before they have clicked on it.”
Because there is a Back button on Internet Explorer, I do not think it is 100% necessary for link titles to provide users with a preview of where each link will take them. One may just click on the Back button to return to the previous page. There are some links on the homepage that, when pointed at, portray a yellow box with black text that says something like “link opens in a new window”. I would not call that a preview. In short, the college’s homepage does not have this “preview” feature, and in my opinion, does not need it. In my opinion, the college has not fulfilled Jakob Nielsen’s “eighth good deed in Web design”.
from Afework Eshetu
The College web team will love you!
Links:
First looking at the navigation bar, the color of graphic links change slightly, however in each section the links do not change color (at least I'm not seeing a change, so I'm evaluating on what(or what I don't) I see).
Searching:
The site (probably) has more than 100 pages, so it should and does have an excellent search which can handle typos and and all the little extras thrown in. (thank you Google).
Scanning and Structure:
All content is separated into "chunks," or, there are no large paragraphs or portions of the page to read. Each section has a "cover page" and links to each sub section.
Opening New Browser Windows:
Every link that I clicked opened the new document in the current window (which it should because they are links to part of the site!). With that said, the NVCC website does not make mistake number 9.
Content not written for the Web:
The content on the NVCC site IS written for the web. It is short and easy to read, not verbose and full of fluff, so to me, the NVCC does not commit the sin of "content not written for the web"
- Andy Haynes
“Ten Good Deeds In Web Design.”
1.Placing your name and logo on every page and make the logo a link to the home page:
I ventured 3 levels deep and visited my nova certificate degree, on every page had the NOVA logo and the text spelled out, even at the bottom of every page. The Logo and text are only linked at the top and take the user back to the home page. The placement and linking associated with the logo work for this site. My only dissatisfaction is Nova’s lack of a logo. Upper case Arial in grass green and gold don’t do anything for me. NOVA had a logo with 3 curved lines and the text NVCC in Optima font below it. I don't know where they buried that simple graphic
Top 10 2006 Mistakes:
2. PDF Files for Online Reading (my eyes!)
At the General Curriculum Programs I was able to download and view a pdf of my curriculum certificate and was also able to save the file for future reference. Nova doesn’t have this problem, allowing users to download the free Adobe Reader and the file.
“Ten Good Deeds In Web Design.”
5.Instead of cramming everything about a product or topic into a single, infinite page, use hypertext to structure the content space into a starting page that provides an overview and several secondary pages that each focus on a specific topic. The goal is to allow users to avoid wasting time on those subtopics that don't concern them.
The index page uses space efficiently using flash in a subtle manner not too irritating to the user, and most importantly the button/links to the right are broken into 4 small limited sections that don’t make using the site any harder
“Ten Good Deeds In Web Design.”
9. Ensure that all important pages are accessible for users with disabilities, especially blind users.
I selected the Current Students button and selected the 3rd button Disability Services. I selected the 2nd link “Assistive Technology” which talks about all of the types of software and hardware that is available to the disabled. Half way down the page they mention “JAWS” a powerful screen reader that works with the latest Microsoft Suite and Corel software for those who are blind users.
“Top 10 2006 Mistakes:”
9. Opening new browser windows
Every time I selected a link, a new window opened within the existing window. This should be the case since this is the NVCC website. To that end, Nova’s website doesn’t make this error within its site.
-Ron Thomas
1. 1.Placing your name and logo on every page and make the logo a link to the home page.
This allows the user to look on the webpage and know what it is all about, and if it the correct information that a person is looking for.
2.Write straightforward and simple headlines and page titles that clearly explain what the page is about and that will make sense when read out-of-context in a search engine results listing.
Can get accurate information from clear explanations of the website.
3.Instead of cramming everything about a product or topic into a single, infinite page, use hypertext to structure the content space into a starting page that provides an overview and several secondary pages that each focus on a specific topic. The goal is to allow users to avoid wasting time on those subtopics that don't concern them.
NOVA has several different pages that when clicked on take you to another page when information that your looking for.
4.Use link titles to provide users with a preview of where each link will take them, before they have clicked on it.
Takes a person right to the specific page.
5.Use product photos, but avoid cluttered and bloated product family pages with lots of photos…..The primary product page must be fast andshould be limited to a thumbnail shot.
Simple photos on NOVA's website is a good thing for more information to be provided.
Mary Powell
1. Bad Search
Its very fast and effective, everything I was looking for i found it.
2. PDF Files for Online Reading
If you dont have word then you wont get it. but other then that it works.
3. Not Changing the Color of Visited Links
its the same at all times the school colors.
4. Non-Scannable Text
yes its full of links and pictures and not a wall of words.
5. Fixed Font Size
at certain points on the web page its small. but its big for the most part.
Thomas Mullen Jr.
thanks =]
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