Just nav, that’s all
Posted January 23rd, 2009 by Stewart FossI was working through some research for the book and some year end numbers and thought I’d share some of it. This is a collection of just the navigation systems from the top, as voted by users, redesigned site from 2008. I had to scale some down to fit into the post.
About the Author
Posts by Stewart Foss:
6 Higher-Ed Examples of Mega Menus
02 Sep 2010 in Design
Nominations are now open for the 2010 eduStyle Higher-Ed Web Awards
15 Apr 2010 in Awards
2010 eduStyle Higher-Ed Web Awards – Submit your site
24 Mar 2010 in Awards
Research, Tweak, Repeat: The Elusive Art of Incremental Redesign
15 Nov 2009 in Conferences& Design& Presentations
Winners of the 2009 eduStyle Higher-Ed Web Awards
22 Jul 2009 in Awards
Last Day to Vote in the People’s Choice Awards
01 Jun 2009 in Awards
Nominees for the 2nd eduStyle Awards
01 May 2009 in Awards
And now we wait …
17 Apr 2009 in Uncategorized
Introducing Tweak of the Week
10 Apr 2009 in Uncategorized
Webinar Series – Website Redesign Boot Camp
25 Mar 2009 in Presentations
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:23 am
Very fascinating in the usage of all CAPS for navigation items as well as the verbiage/structure used to represent the mighty academics, admissions of a university.
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:56 am
I also thought it was worth noting that in all cases the audience based navigation was not the primary navigation scheme. It hung on as secondary in many cases, but it was typically de-emphasized.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:11 am
I truly feel that the navigation and site structure are the most important elements in making a site that is user friendly. That is a very interesting point that Stewart made about the audience navigation. At WVU it is the audience nav acts as the primary nav. http://www.wvu.edu
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:02 pm
In recent usability testing of several college Web sites with high school juniors, I was surprised to find that they did not think to go to the “Admission” section to find information, although this is the place most of us put our content for prospective students. More often than not, they chose the “About” section. We then tested seniors, and they had “learned” how to navigate college Web sites, so knew that “Admission” was the place to look.
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:30 pm
That is really interesting @jillgee, It sounds like what I’ve been hearing over the last few years about the “prospective student” link. Having users have to learn to use higher-ed websites is not ideal, but it seems based on your testing that at least by being us being relatively consistent across the industry the seniors seem to be learning how to navigate university sites. I wonder if others have found the same thing.
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
[...] eduStyle is a web design gallery dedicated to higher education websites – I am a regular reader of the accompanying blog. Today, when I clicked through to the blog, I grinned. Because there, front and center, was the W&M global navigation. Check out the W&M navigation in all its glory! [...]
January 26th, 2009 at 6:27 am
Anyone have insights into usability testing or conducted focus groups with faculty/ staff on their preferences for navigation? We’re about to start the process, but any “lessons learned” would be appreciated.