School website feedback

[Morgan]

Just looking for some honest feedback in regards to our school website.

Thanks!

[Morgan]

I agree with your point about it being a “pretty standard website”. If you don’t mind me asking, would you say it looks like a professional standard website, or an amateurish website?

Yes, unfortunately the delay is intentional. When the window width reduces, the menu splits into two rows. If you were to try and access the ‘School’ drop down menu, by the time you moved your cursor from “School” to the drop down list, it would disappear. Maybe the delay could be reduced.

Thank you for your time, Jerba.

[Morgan]

Personally, I would probably say the website is somewhat of a professional standard, however, in all honesty to me it feels like the website is split between a potentially out dated feel and a modern/fun approach.

Modern/fun was what I was going for, so I’m glad you picked up on that.

Would you care to elaborate on what you mean by “feels like the website is split between a potentially out dated feel“?

I would suggest maybe changing the colour of the navigation to blue in order to spice up the top half of the website a little.

Funny you should say this as one member of staff was adamant that the navigation should have been changed to red/blue. I’ll definitely change this.

Thanks for your comment regarding the news excerpts.

Again, thank you for your time, Jerba.

[Morgan]

I meant it to me it gives the feel of a website made in maybe the in the early 2000’s like the old myspace design.

Oh right lol. Okay!

EDIT: I’ve just refreshed your website, the navigation looks much better in blue.

Great. It certainly adds a bit of life to the website’s header. My only concern is that the navigation is distracting, but I guess the navigation is supposed to draw attention to itself.

Thanks again for all of your feedback, Jerba.

[chrisburton]

Focusing on the typography will help a lot here (e.g. distinguishing between important text and metadata (dates), improving hierarchy, article module gaps look out of place). It’s a pretty good start but there’s some issues that need to be addressed.

The following page doesn’t really fit the design:

http://www.stanwell.org/documents/

This is why I usually try to stay away from backgrounds on content areas.

[Morgan]

Hi Chris,

I hope you don’t mind me asking you to elaborate on your points.

I agree that maybe the dates of the articles could contrast a bit more with the article information. Maybe I’ll use a smaller font size instead of just a subtle colour difference.

improving hierarchy

Do you think the headers should be bigger, or maybe I just need a variety of different header styles? Maybe I’ve misunderstood your comment.

article module gaps look out of place

I think I understand your comment about the article module gaps, but just to confirm, are you referring to these gaps?:

http://ehcho.com/module-gaps.jpg

The following page doesn’t really fit the design: http://www.stanwell.org/documents/

Can I ask you why? Do you feel a poor job has been done with displaying the documents available on the website? I was thinking of adding a picture to represent the document instead of just a text link.

I really appreciate your time, Chris.
Morgan

[chrisburton]

Do you think the headers should be bigger, or maybe I just need a variety of different header styles? Maybe I’ve misunderstood your comment.

Hierarchy is not just about headings. You want users (readers) to be able to flow through those modules without getting caught reading metadata. Right now, that metadata is part of the body text. Yes, choosing different styles and weights can help improve this along with bumping up or knocking down font sizes. Browse around the TDC.org site to see an example of how they implemented their hierarchy to distinguish headings, metadata, body text, etc.

I think I understand your comment about the article module gaps, but just to confirm, are you referring to these gaps?: http://ehcho.com/module-gaps.jpg

Correct.

Can I ask you why? Do you feel a poor job has been done with displaying the documents available on the website? I was thinking of adding a picture to represent the document instead of just a text link.

Unnecessary white-space.

I really appreciate your time, Chris.

No problem. Hope I was helpful.

[Morgan]

You want users (readers) to be able to flow through those modules without getting caught reading metadata.

Ok, I didn’t consider that some users would get distracted by the meta data, and now you point it out, it does look a bit out of place. I’ll definitely spend some time getting some inspiration from the TDC’s website.

Unnecessary white-space.

Thanks for the clarification.

I agree that the sidebar causing unnecessary white-space on some pages is bad. I think a better job could be done about managing the size of the sidebar on pages that don’t offer much content. Some pages are even worse…

Thanks again, and indeed you were helpful. The great majority of people who’ve seen the website have given overwhelmingly positive feedback, but positive feedback doesn’t improve a website, constructive feedback does. :)

[chrisburton]

I’ll definitely spend some time getting some inspiration from the TDC’s website.

Well, I just meant that TDC did a good job at doing this not for you to use as a guide or to copy from. Just an example, that’s all.

I agree that the sidebar causing unnecessary white-space on some pages is bad. I think a better job could be done about managing the size of the sidebar on pages that don’t offer much content. Some pages are even worse…

Ouch. The way I see it is, you already have a Twitter link in the footer. I would just get rid of that feed, try to condense those sidebar modules down as much as possible and/or restructure the layout to fit the content appropriately.

[Morgan]

The way I see it is, you already have a Twitter link in the footer. I would just get rid of that feed

I can see that removing the Twitter feed would help solve the white space problem, but I like the Twitter feed. Some pages show a feed that is appropriate to it, for example, this page and this one.

Maybe I’ll rethink if the sidebar is required on the majority of pages, or at least whether or not all the modules need to be on the majority of pages.

Again, thanks for your feedback, Chris.

[chrisburton]

I can see that removing the Twitter feed would help solve the white space problem, but I like the Twitter feed. Some pages show a feed that is appropriate to it, for example, this page and this one.

Sure, it’s relevant due to the fact that it’s displaying different feeds for relative pages however, perhaps just linking to it would minimize that module. Just keep in mind what you like may not be useful for others. Try to keep it minimal and straight to the point.

Side Note: This website would be a perfect candidate for eye tracking tests and click analysis.

[Jimmy]

Morgan,
I have to ask, what is your affiliation to the school if any? I’m somewhat curious considering the school is located in Wales and I would love to know any demographics you might be familiar with in terms of potential/current developers and designers over there.

[mattelias]

I should probably say that this site transmits a few incoherent messages, mainly attributed to it’s lack of solid colours and rounded corners, considering that what you want is to show people that visit it a modern and kinda like fun experience. Also, as somebody here already pointed out, the missing of a hierachy on the website is a very serious problem, not that hard to be solved.

Advices:

• The website should be more flat, if a modern message is intended.
• Roboto for headings? Definately not a good thing.
• There is a lack of icons where they would truly matter, like in the Moodle / Webmail / Radio menu. Consider swapping those texts by icons.
• The Search box is a little bit weird, it’s padding should be increased. Also, if it has border radius, and it is a box, shouldn’t most of the boxes in the site also has a border radius too?

Anyway, the most severe problems are listed above. In overall, the site has a good potential, just change those things, and we should have an excellent scholar website over there!

I’ll be waiting for your answer!

Edit: I would go for the headlines with ‘Francois One’, a free webfont. Search for it on Google Web Fonts, as it seems that i’m not able to post it here.

[Morgan]

This website would be a perfect candidate for eye tracking tests and click analysis.

@chrisburton: Great suggestion! I’ll be sure to look into that later on down the line.

I would love to know any demographics you might be familiar with in terms of potential/current developers and designers over there.

@Sino: I don’t know of any specific demographics, but I know there are lots of successful web development companies in South Wales, and plenty of individuals, like myself, who’re trying to make a name for themselves in this sector.

Why do you ask, Sino?

@mattelias: Hi Mattelias, thank you for your time. I’d love to respond to your advise.

as somebody here already pointed out, the missing of a hierachy on the website is a very serious problem, not that hard to be solved

Yes, it has been pointed out in previous posts, and definitely something I need to address.

Could I ask you to give me some examples of where the hierarchy of the website is a serious problem? Chris pointed out the problem with the metadata being too similar with the body text, and mentioned the headings needed some work. Is your comment about hierarchy the same, or can you elaborate on your point further?

The website should be more flat, if a modern message is intended.

I agree. I went for the flat approach during the early stages of design, but was swayed by subtle gradients. I guess the gradients are not that subtle. I’m going to go for the flat approach seeing as the menu/breadcrumbs are flat colours.

Roboto for headings? Definately not a good thing. I would go for the headlines with ‘Francois One’, a free webfont.

I’ve never liked how the headings looked (apart from the H2s). I didn’t consider changing their font. My concern with using an additional font is performance related. I like the look of Francois One, but not sure if it’s coming across as too cartoony. I’m going to try it out.

…lack of icons where they would truly matter like in the Moodle / Webmail / Radio menu

For Webmail and Radio and I can think of some icons, but not sure what icon would identify Moodle more clearly than text. Maybe a hover effect over the icon would reveal text for Moodle/Webmail/Radio. I’ll definitely consider this.

The Search box is a little bit weird, it’s padding should be increased.

I agree.

Also, if it has border radius, and it is a box, shouldn’t most of the boxes in the site also has a border radius too?

Thanks for pointing this out. Boxes should remain consistent across the website, especially as I’ve gone for quite a modular approach. Some have rounded corners, some don’t. Consistency is definitely something I wanted to go for, obviously having variations of border-radius isn’t helping.

Thank you for your time Mattelias. I really appreciate you giving me some of your time to give me some feedback.

[chrisburton]

Roboto for headings? Definately not a good thing.

This is completely vague and gives no benefit to the OP. You should elaborate more.

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