And a question for you 640x480 users - the total size of the table is
605x488 - so if users maximize the window, they will get a vertical
scroll bar, but not a horizontal one, which is fine, right?
Edwin's point #2 below raises another exellent issue; is there any form
of assessment planned for the new site? I could imagine many kinds of
assessment that could be done, and for multiple audiences, and it seems
that some sort of quantifiable assessment program would produce some
very useful information.
And as long as I have the vitual floor, let me add that I think the fact
that the web dev. team has actually listened to this list and acted on
some of the suggestions that we have made admirable and laudable. To
echo Herb Rubin's post on Tompaine, I wish this kind of process were
more prevalent in other arenas of the university.
--Eric HOffman
Edwin Zehner wrote:
>
> I suggest:
>
> 1. Put a libraries link right on the left side of the home page.
> Currently the link path to the libraries is not immediately obvious.
> Now that the library catalog is available only on the web (or so I'm
> told), it is essential that access to it be as easy as possible.
>
> 2. I found myself worrying how hard it would be to find other things
> in the new site. If you have not already done so, I suggest running
> the site through tests with users who were not involved in
> development. Give them lists of information about the university that
> they should go looking for (it shouldn't matter whether the goal pages
> are designed by you or by other NIU departments). Have them note how
> hard or easy it was to find each item.
>
> 3. The "Alumni," "Current Students," etc. buttons at the bottom of the
> first page seem odd. My first expectation was that they would be ABOUT
> these groups, rather than information selected FOR these groups. Once
> I looked in, I wondered, "How can I be sure they know what I really
> need?" I felt I had to make 5 or 6 trips into the site instead of just
> diving in for the information I really wanted. Exactly what is the
> function of this set of buttons? Is it "extra stuff," or different
> ways of organizing the same material, or 5 separate selections from
> the same set of material?
>
> 3a. If the buttons are just a way of putting out "extra stuff" (which
> is what I hope they are), then identify them that way. Call them
> "Alumni News" or "News for Faculty" or "Hot Stuff for Prospective
> Students." That way(i) people will know they don't really have to
> click on the buttons, and (ii) when they do click they will find
> exactly what they expected.
>
> 3b. Avoid making visitors wait for ads to load if they are just
> looking for information. On other peoples' sites I find such waits
> very irritating. If your site is not high priority for me (i.e., if I
> were a merely "curious" prospective student), I'll give you maybe five
> seconds. Ten seconds, tops. In my office, the pages loaded quickly.
> But I'm not sure how they will do in a public library, school library,
> or home computer. Do you have plans to test this?
>
> 4. In the web search section, it seemed odd to include a single search
> engine while claiming that its use does not imply endorsement. Yes, it
> does imply endorsement, because why else would you use only that one?
> Also, please add some instructions on how to use the search engine and
> what users might expect to find with it.
>
> 4a. If you do take advantage of the suggestions that NIU's CGI
> programmers design their own search engine, will that mean that the
> rest of us will finally be allowed to do interactive pages on
> university servers?
>
> Hope these comments are helpful.
>
> Edwin Zehner
> Southeast Asian Studies
> seap@niu.edu
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>