Fig. 2.5 Repsonse:
XKCD's comic college campus lists of "things people go to the site looking for" is near accurate. Having gone through the rings searching and applying to four-year Universities, I had a similar checklist of items when looking at a University's site page. What I came to notice is that much like the army web page, university web pages had a clutter of flare, be it pictures of students chatting in the halls, engaging in fun activities/ interacting with faculty or a story of past accomplishments. It was sometimes difficult to just find a link to the university's department/ course list on some sites or student aid page to find out if this institution is for me, and is affordable. Given the audience the University's are trying to attract, they seem to have this assumption (based on their web-page) that incoming students are attracted by the more flashy, well-known institutions. When in most cases the student is looking for the infrastructure of the university, though the name of the school does have a big influence on the choice.
Dissecting Western Washington University's web-page:
Western Washington University has to have one of the most user friendly webpage. It address's information in a clear and aesthetically pleasing manner for both future and current students. WWU's webpage loosely follows the patterns listed in the XKCD comic. It is visually organized and not to chaotic, in the sense that the majority of the page is filled with text. Having placed a single still image in the center helps to segment the texts and links on the page. The author of WWU's page has addressed the needs of any, if not all, possible audiences. There are clearly labeled sections for jobs at Western, applications, financial aid calculators, events, and much more. From an initial glance at this page we can extrude that the purpose of this page is to inform any audience member, while retaining a strong emphasis towards student and faculty members. I feel that WWU was able to include everything on the XKCD comic list into one page, and make it work without being to cluttered. Visually the author spent time in orienting the information in a manner that can be easily read and used. My overall take on Western Washington University's webpage is able to dissolve the web designs "competition with the site's purpose and the audience's genre expectations"(CH 2).
As in my blog post I agree that WSU's web page is more minded toward the flashyness of a site than actually informative. They may be wanting to make the website for WSU look nice from far away for the incoming students, but then they don't change the structure of it for current students to use. The pictures used and the information given on the very front page of the site gives a sort of 'gilded' look to the university; all show and no drama to real college life, but that's the crowd they want to draw in right?
ReplyDeleteOh wow, Western Washington's website is so much more helpful to use! It may not be as aesthetically pleasing and showy like WSU's and I agree that the page is organized for finding real information. I'm not sure why WSU has to be extra flashy on their page and hardly informative while another Washington university doesn't have to show off and is more informative for the students.
You've done a good job of analyzing WWU's page. I can agree with you on a few points. I do find the central image almost like a post to hold the viewers eye and keep it from looking too cluttered or overwhelming. Although the site did have ease of use I found the over-extended top banner over the sea of cream to feel distracting or remind me more of a Healthcare website of sorts.
ReplyDelete-Alyson
Nice job w/ this post. Interesting how different WSU's site is than WWU's. WSU is a genre convention rule breaker! (maybe a good thing? maybe not?)
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