Comments on: Best chart ever

By: Deb

Deb — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:47:49 +0000

Good balance of commentary, including the “best comment ever.” Universities still tend to be conservative and a bit fearful of their own tech areas as well as technology consultants and organizations that build the great websites with great usability, understanding what users want while meeting requirements.

Universities have values that often include longevity, status and stability/security and attract staffing wanting the same things. These qualities do not necessary result in awesome, cool websites except in the area of admissions and development. If you hang out with admissions or development folks, you’ll pick up a bit of different vibe. Not to be missed is that these areas tend to have seasonal staff, staff who get out and travel, and much more turnover or “churn.”

By: SJM

SJM — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 04:48:02 +0000

My first thought was that PC language was a must-have for any college web site. I checked the Bemidji website that was linked to in one post and there were tabs touting diversity, social justice, and being green.

By: Jeffrey Zeldman

Jeffrey Zeldman — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:15:11 +0000

Abu Norman:

Best comment ever!

By: Abu Noaman

Abu Noaman — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:58:06 +0000

As a CEO of a company that serves higher education institutions, I find this chart quite naive and inadequate.

First, “people” in the diagram is biased towards current students and perhaps prospective students. In reality, the stakeholder list is broad and includes Prospects, Current Students, Alumni, Faculty, Staff, Corporate/Foundation Partners, Media, and Accreditation Agencies.

Second, even we focus on prospective students, they are seeking answers to three big questions: (1) does the college offer what I need, (b) will I will be happy if I go there and (c) will I get a payback for my education. This chart ignores (b) and (c).

Third, if you study the latest findings by Noel Levitz presented at EduWeb last week, prospective students highly value (a) online application (b) campus visit request form, (c) cost calculator, (d) online course catalog. (See PDF for details.)

Frankly, to label this post “best chart ever” is an undeserving honor. It does great disservice to discipline of creating effective websites for higher education.

By: Levi

Levi — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:56:12 +0000

I work for a Minnesota University in Web development, I don’t think our pages are to difficult to navigate, there is bureaucracy on which pages are prioritized on the main page, but I don’t think that can be avoided. Thats just the reality of working for a University.

http://www.bemidjistate.edu/

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:59:37 +0000

This reminds me of the experience of creating a site for a diocese. I had a global nav link called “Learning” for people to find out about classes, courses, resources, etc. available. They told me to change it to “Education,” because they were educating people. I said “Yes, but the user wants to learn, not educate.” They were simply incapable of understanding this and could not comprehend why they should consider how the user would view it. The completed nav lists “Education.”

By: Jesse Friedman

Jesse Friedman — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:03:55 +0000

I work at a university and this is SO TRUE!

By: John

John — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 04:38:38 +0000

Jeffrey I cannot believe you just got me with that.

By: _mark

_mark — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:49:14 +0000

lol. of course.

don’t even get me started on the trader joe’s website.

By: Greg

Greg — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:07:43 +0000

> Now, I’d love to see it get put to use on a major university site

We’ll get right on that after we form a subcommittee and appoint co-chairs. Before we do that, we’ll need to get approval from the Dean, most of the department chairs, and let the provost know what we’re up to. Also, we can’t meet nine months out of the year because, uh, academic stuff, and then we’ll have to work in vacations and sabbaticals. Hopefully we won’t need Jim because he’s a grump. Ready? Ok, I’ll draft the memo…

> All the other school sites in our city looks very much what they are amateurs. Any ideas!

Look outside your city.

By: Lauri

Lauri — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 02:33:54 +0000

ugh, I’ve lost the game. Sneaky Jeffrey!

By: SW Whittle

SW Whittle — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 01:30:17 +0000

I have a question. I have been tasked to design a website for a Christian Private School. The grades are from nusery2 – 8th grade. I am having a difficult time coming up with a concept that meets that wide range.

All the other school sites in our city looks very much what they are amateurs. Any ideas!

By: Jeffrey Zeldman

Jeffrey Zeldman — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:55:21 +0000

Girls Under Trees.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:58:22 +0000

Igor, that’s the beauty of this chart. Despite its simple and important message, it will be ignored.

By: Philip Renich

Philip Renich — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:43:15 +0000

I agree with the first Eric, where is “Girls under trees”?