Present: Dave Baird, Marsha Bjornerud, Steve Blodgett, Pete Gilbert, Steve Hirby
The bulk of the meeting was spent reviewing sample web designs developed by Pete Gilbert and in looking at sites exhibiting good design or attractive features. These included www.mtholyoke.edu, www.digital.com, www.stolaf.edu and, to a lesser extent, www.colby.com.
It was decided that pure HTML tags (e.g., <table>, <font>) would not yield a site design with the presentation values we want. Rather, we'll need to develop a grapic identify based on the inclusion of images for banners, footers, and buttons. We agreed, also, that the existing designs of the public affairs and CWIS sites should be replaced by a new design characterized by a ligher, crisper, more open look with abundant white space. The Mt. Holyoke and the St. Olaf sites were found especially pleasing. The idea of a wordmark as the focal image, ˆ la St. Olaf, was commented upon favorably.
The use of JavaScript-based rollover actions (in which the presence of the pointer over a hotspot reveals additional information, perhaps through a change in color or the addition of text) was advocated as way of simplifying the initial presentation of the Lawrence home page while offering further information to the presistent. A version of this technique is visible at Colby, and another, perhaps better one, is at Digital.
We decided to develop a grapic identity system and a page layout grid to govern the new site at the main page level and three levels below. In most cases, we will need a depth of only two levels below home, but in a few cases our site outline is three levels deep and we should be prepared with a design.
Regarding information design, Pete Gilbert's proposed navigation solution was viewed approvingly. The home page has no navigation links. Section-level pages ("level 1") refer to home and to the other sections presented on the home page. Sub-section pages ("level 2") refer to the site home page and to the top-level page of the current section.
There was discussion but no resolution regarding the Mt. Holyoke technique of locating navigation buttons above the banner on each page, thus placing them in plain view.
Pete's example Anthropology department page illustrates the concept sketched in our planning retreat in which each academic department has a page of basic information with links to admissions info, faculty roster, course descriptions, and the department home page (if such exists). This model provides a way of ensuring that site visitors can find some information about each academic area while encouraging departmental creativity in the development of a home page.
There was general interest in and approval expressed for this approach, though further discussion is needed. It was noted that the appropriate source for course descriptions is the published course catalog copy. Resolutions and admonitions were heard about the importance of having this material on the Web posthaste. The chair offered to explore funding for the purchase of a tool to simply this process if there is interest from public affairs.
It was agreed before the next meeting to
Other open items on our agenda:
Respectfully Submitted,
Steve Hirby