For a comparison this week, I decided to look at the design of two department of education websites. I look at these often for my job and have found that some states are definitely more on-top-of-it than others.
LOSER: Arizona Department of Education
Why is this website so terrible? Oh, let me count the ways...
- It is not as "user-friendly" as it could be. There are too many links on each page with minimal explanation. It is not always obvious based on the link title which one you should choose. Often, there are links that have similar titles so it's especially confusing about which is the most appropriate. Also, there is not always a pathway that shows you how you got to the page you are on, so it is hard to navigate your way back.
- It is not visually appealing. Whoever chose the color scheme and banner photos must be color-blind. On the home page alone, text is shown in: blue, a brighter blue, black, white with green highlights, white with maroon highlights, and black with yellow highlights.
- The font is not appealing. Multiple--but very similar--fonts are used. All are relatively normal sized, with nothing standing out or designed to grab your attention.
- The images in the banner are cluttered and there is too much to look at.
- This website is designed with a nice, simple color-scheme (mostly a muted red with some primary colors).
- Headings and other "important" text stands out because it is larger at the top of the page. When you hover over these headings, drop-down menus with more information appears. Although there are many links, like in the Arizona DOE site, these links are much more clearly labeled. Once you get into one of these sections (e.g., Testing), additional areas of interest appear on the left with descriptions of various links on the right. I wish that the descriptions were not cut-off mid-sentence, but something is better than nothing.
- The images chosen for the banners are simple and easy to recognize.
- Links and information are grouped in ways that make sense.
To teach students about web design, it would be interesting to have them complete a similar assignment that has a few more parameters. As a class, students could generate a list of features that they think are important to website design. On a SMARTBoard or projector, the class could compare a few websites to see how the design impacts the user's experience on the site. I think that this would be a great way to introduce the concept of web design in a way that is engaging and covers the material in a reasonable amount of time.
1 comment:
Lisa: You nailed it again. I agree, the Arizona Dept. of Education website really needs some help. It is way too cluttered. It is organized, yes, but not user friendly. The Ohio site on the other hand, has large graphics to help the first time user find what they need quickly. It also has a menu bar near the top for those who maybe know exactly what they are looking for and don't need to see the rest of the site. I never really thought much about successful website design until asked to compare them. You were fortunate that you were able to compare some that you actually use. This seems to make the exercise more realistic - otherwise it's like comparing artwork or some other abstract thing. As to your question of what to compare, don't you think that all those features: organization, funtionality, artistic design, etc. are linked together?
I agree with your idea of teaching website design. Looking at examples on a projector and talking about differences would be helpful. I think that somehow we would need to teach thinking about potential audience.
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