New Design of Valparaiso University Home Web Page

[valpopal]

As we all know, the web site home page is the first impression most prospective students get of Valparaiso University. With that in mind, I thought I would note that VU today has introduced its re-designed home page, which now includes many more features. If you haven't checked it out, here it is: http://www.valpo.edu/

[valpotx]

I do not like this one bit.  A big part of website design nowadays is UX (User Experience).  This seems bulgy and disjointed, and 'small schoolilsh.'  I very much hope that this is a rough draft, as the design of the site has taken a LARGE step backwards.  Take it from someone that works around software developers on a daily basis, that this looks like something from 10 years ago...

Edit: Luckily, they haven't touched the Athletics site as of yet.  The Athletics portion is very much considered more 'new age,' and needs to stay as such.  I apologize if I am offending anyone that might have worked on the Valpo main page, but truly, it is an eye sore.  Pictures are huge, there is no true structure, etc.  Seriously, this needs to change quickly...

[78crusader]

I don't think it's all that bad.  I will say, though, that the two main pictures on the front page are terrible -- they were obviously taken recently since there are no leaves on the trees.  (Plus they were taken at a weird angle, and don't do justice to these beautiful buildings.  Heck, even I could take better pictures than these.)  If they want these photos to match the current season we are in, fine, but that idea is much better suited to ANY season of the year other than early spring in NW Indiana, which of course is not for the faint of heart.

Paul   

[a3uge]

AGAIN? They keep doing these redesigns but don't actually redesign the whole site.

Main page: http://www.valpo.edu/
Academics: http://www.valpo.edu/academics/
The Arts: http://www.valpo.edu/vuca/
Campus Calendar: http://calendar.valpo.edu/
Law School: http://www.valpo.edu/law/
Valpo Online: http://www.valpoonline.com/

Get your act together Valpo!

Maybe more is rolling out in the next couple of days, but as far as I can see, the only thing they changed was the front page. Review from someone that's a web developer: They're using a new trendy style tool (called Bootstrap), but seem to have vomited bad styles all over the place like the font choice/inconsistencies, the gradient buttons, the gradient number things, the weird italic serif headers, and the random valpo crest hidden in the background. Really? It seems like they wanted a more trendy website, but didn't get all the way there. Modern sites are boxy and have flat colors, scroll down a bunch, have large text, large flat boxy buttons. Sometimes gradients are prevalent, but they're very subtle. Usually a lot of white space and a lot of boxes with subtle shadows underneath them. The old trend was rounded corners and gradients, not a lot of scrolling, and usually involved big images in the background. This new page has a mashup of both styles, which seems more like a mess. If you look at a some modern web design, you'll see these patterns I described:

http://expo.getbootstrap.com/

And some other sites that use bootstrap...

http://www.godaddy.com/
http://digg.com/
http://www.jcpenney.com/
http://www.t-mobile.com/

Anyways... not incredibly impressed.

[valpotx]

Are we looking at the same thing???  I get WAY more than two main pictures on the front page.  Maybe there is an error when I pull it up?  When I pull up the website, each picture literally takes up the whole page at 100% view, and if you try 50% view, they are still massive.  For a website to be a marketing tool, you need it to be clear and concise for the user.  When you have to scroll down for 5 minutes to get to different areas, it does not meet this requirement. 

Edit: If this is called bootstrap, bootstrap sucks!  Here is what I like, based on my company: http://www.siriusxm.com/.  You shouldn't have to search forever to find what you want.  The other Valpo site portions you show are much more UX friendly...

[78crusader]

I get the same page listed as the main page by a3uge.

paul

[a3uge]

Modern sites focus around search and the best sites have a well implemented search. Often you'll see sites have live searching, bringing back page results on every key stroke. So if you know what you want, you can easily search for it, or figure it out by navigating through a couple of categories on top. Having a well implemented search allows you to hide information that isn't relevant for 95% of the users visiting. The information is still accessible, but its cleaner for users that aren't necessarily sure what they're looking for. Scrolling down shouldn't be necessary for navigation, but instead, you put some undirected information on the bottom rather than up front in the users face. That way they aren't greeted with 300 links and pictures with no guidance where they're going or what to click on.

[valpotx]

Maybe it has to do with people who also like Twitter.  I absolutely loathe Twitter and how it is organized.  At 32, I can't be consider that old, either.  I like something that is pleasing to the eyes, and being able to navigate my way around with various links or dropdowns.  I can do the searching as well, but it just looks like crap when it is jumbled as it looks currently.  Now, this bootstrap model seems fine as a display on mobile devices, which seems to be used quite often in this fashion.

[usc4valpo]

I like it!  And they kept the"Passion Meets Purpose" girl!

[valpotx]

I just checked the Valpo website from my Surface, and it looks much better.  It might have been my work computer causing an issue, as every single picture on the main page was the full width of the page for every section listed, and just HUGE.  I wish that I could have posted a screenshot of what I saw, as you would have been saying the same thing.  From this device, it looks pretty good, and you don't need to scroll for 5 minutes to get to the bottom.  From my work computer, it didn't show the topics at the top of the page, it was all intermingled somewhere at the bottom.  This is much clearer, and easy to navigate.

[okinawatyphoon]

I think the new website looks terrific. It's much more professional and up to date with the latest website design. They really need to integrate the rest of the website soon though, because as soon as you navigate away from the main page, the whole experience falls apart.

[valpo64]

This is new and IMPROVED?