I am currently working on a mock re-design of the University of Arkansas at Monticello website for my Technical Writing course. Our final project for the semester, an assignment to find a local problem and present a solution, led me to the UAM website. After a recent re-design to celebrate “a century of opportunity,” coinciding with the university’s 100-year anniversary, many design flaws still remained. My project aims to highlight those problems and suggest fixes for them.
Although, as you will see, the overall design of the site lacks visual appeal, my main focus will be in two areas: content layout and web standards. The website uses the “< table >” element to organize the content, a bad move as far as standards-purists are concerned. A referenced CSS style sheet seems to be ignored as the HTML has its own styles embedded. Pretty messy overall.The major overhaul will be in content—the current website has over 50 links.
The formal report must be at least seven pages in length (not including supporting graphics and other documents). I will be attempting to interview the “web publisher” of the site, whoever that may be, to ask a few questions regarding the history of the site and other menial topics. I’ve used Facebook as a survey platform to get a feel for what users like and dislike about the site— navigation and accessibility seem to be the biggest concerns.
Here’s what I’ve done thus far on the mock-up. Voice your opinion.
Great project! I hope that you can not only do well in the class, but perhaps UAM’s web department will use your project?
Hey, we can all dream.