EDU Checkup: Western Illinois University, Hope College
Posted December 6th, 2009 by Nick DeNardis
This week seemed like a flop, Western Illinois University got a “D” and Hope College got an “F-”, but there are some pretty important lessons here. The first is as you can tell from the screen shots above the web changes fast, your users will know in a few seconds how much effort you put into your site. the two sites look like they were designed over five years ago. Interestingly enough Western Illinois looks like it was only launched a year or so ago (from what I can tell).
The second is navigation creep. The navigation for the two sites probably accomplished all the users and institutions needs when they launched. But over time things have been added/moved/removed which deteriorated the effectiveness. The most apparent is the right column of the Western Illinois University site, it is now packed and nothing stands out anymore. Lets take a ride on the Way Back Machine to see how clean the right column was when the site launched. It’s a shame.
This Week’s Reviews
| Site | Visual | Information | Code | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Illinois University – Episode #130 | 43 | 60 | 90 | (193/300) 64% D |
| Hope College – Episode #131 | 40 | 50 | 22 | (112/300) 37% F- |
Keep up up with @educheckup on twitter and RSS for more site updated in the coming weeks. Or if you prefer, an iTunes feed is available so you can get new episodes automatically.
About the Author
Posts by Nick DeNardis:
EDU Checkup: Saint Michael’s College, University of Notre Dame, Northwestern College
07 Mar 2010 in EDU Checkup
EDU Checkup: Southwest Minnesota State, Saginaw Valley State, Carl Sandburg College
14 Feb 2010 in EDU Checkup
EDU Checkup: LaGuardia Community College, Scripps College, Monash University
06 Feb 2010 in EDU Checkup
EDU Checkup: Royal Roads University, Freed-Hardeman University, Lutheran Theological Seminary
30 Jan 2010 in EDU Checkup
EDU Checkup: Deeside College, Carnegie Mellon University
23 Jan 2010 in EDU Checkup
EDU Checkup: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
16 Jan 2010 in EDU Checkup
EDU Checkup: University of Wisconsin, Otterbein College
11 Jan 2010 in EDU Checkup
EDU Checkup: Western Illinois University, Hope College
06 Dec 2009 in EDU Checkup
EDU Checkup: Pomona College, The University of Alabama
21 Nov 2009 in EDU Checkup
EDU Checkup: Indiana University East, George Mason University, Carroll College
14 Nov 2009 in EDU Checkup
