site inventory and analysis comments
After you read your own group's comments, please read the comments for all other groups, as what is written most likely will inform your own group's work.
Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4return to site inventory
Group 1
You have done an excellent job analyzing the site. I really like how in the Communication Brief you have broken your short and long term goals, and you do a great job of profiling the audience and explaining the tone you'd like to create for the site. I also like your plan of polling users to see if they like the new design, and I hope your group has time to for that.
You have created a very nice map of the current site, though because you have elected to place it in one document it is a bit hard to follow the lines as they weave in and out of the many text boxes. Usability does not just relate to web design. . . . I like the categories you have created in the new design - four sections create a simple structure and the names you have chosen seem to be okay. I am a little concerned that the courses, which Gary and Suloni seemed to highlight in their discussion, are still a few levels down. Perhaps a section off the front page should be made for them? And please do not forget about the STAs in your re-design. Overall, it is clear that you have a good understanding of the current site and are well situated to move to the next step. I look forward to seeing your new design.
Group 2
You have done a very good job of laying out the current site, and I like that you broke the work down so that each group member made a map of at least one section - and, as a result, each group member was able to learn Visio. I also think it is great that you broke the work down for the Audit Methodologies.
It is clear from this work, then, that you should have a good understanding of the site, its goals, and its audience. It is for this reason that I was disappointed to see how little you explored the site and its audience in your Communication Brief - one that is a least a page too short. Please be sure that you know exactly where you want to take the site and have thought through all of the issues that are covered in Colter and Goto's Brief handout. I think you are right on the money when you write in the Communication Brief that it is a "distinguishably lacking website." The adjectives you use to describe your redesign are excellent, and I find "intriguing" to be, well, intriguing as I look forward to seeing how you make the site intriguing for its users. Your goal to ensure that the user returns is a good one. It is interesting that you have broken down the new site by university status (faculty and student), and I wonder: How can you be completely sure that something a faculty member wants to see that a student will never want to see it? For example, what if both a faculty member and a student want to view a course page? Make sure you think through all of the implications of your design choices. I look forward to seeing your prototype.
Group 3
You have done an excellent job identifying the problems with and the tone of the current site. I like how you unite aesthetic and usability by stating that one of your goals is to "give the users of the site a more pleasant and efficient experience." Good, too, that you come back to this in your targeted message.
You have also done a great job outlining the current structure of the site, and your color coding really helps (though watch that green and red for people who are red/green colorblind). With your detailed outline of the current site I was anticipating a very different redesign, yet there seem to be as many, if not more, links off the main page as are on the current site. (Good, though, that your layout is consistent with your Content Delivery Plan.) The result is (will be) the same usability issues that we currently have: too many links off the front page, going to too many sections. Before you move on to the next phase of the project, please spend a great deal of time revisiting the redesigned sitemap, thinking about how the site should be structured according to your usability analysis and other documents. I look forward to seeing your re-design.
Group 4
Your Communication Brief is exceptional in its scope and detail. You do an excellent job of outlining your main goals, and I like how you are incorporating many usability aspects into your goals, including your understanding that the "audience of this web site lacks a surplus of time" - something that can be said of most audiences to most sites. Who wants to wade around, looking for stuff? I do, however, think that your audience may be limited: take a look at the statistics and see where many of the users are coming from. Many might now to be COLA profs or students, but people outside the university. We certainly know that to be true with some of the course sites, like French Interactif. Understanding that a portion of the audience comes from outside the university will locate your attention on small, yet important things, such as notifying users when a link requires a UT login.
You have also done an excellent job with your site maps; I really found the color coding very helpful and instructive. I like the idea of the Networks section, but for some reason the name - Networks - seems vague and may encourage people to click on it to see what it is. Is there another name you can come up with? Overall, a great job - I look forward to seeing your prototype.