Since we are in a major research university, I decided to look at a couple other schools website designs. For the Good I found the University of Miami FL, the good, and Penn State, the bad.

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The University of Miami in Coral Gables is known for its football, but this website is pretty good. It effectively uses the school’s tropical color scheme. It has an easy navigation screen and is not too big as to everything fits in a simple area. I really like how there is a search tool right at top because that makes it even more efficient for people to navigate, especially potential students.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know it may be wrong to critique Penn State, as I have the obvious Syracuse bias in the “rivalry.” However, I think this website is too plain. Unlike Miami’s homepage, you only get one picture of an actual class and it almost seems as they care more about their mascot than learning. Granted Penn State only has blue to work with, this website is not focused on attracting students to come to what is, in my eyes, a solid university.