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Evaluation of UMBC College of Engineering and Information Technology website By Emanuel Baisire

Introduction: The paper evaluates UMBCs college of engineering and information technology website to determine whether it meets information architecture guidelines. The main objective of the college of engineering and information technology website is to provide information and other tools relevant to the university community and its external audience. The websites primary audience includes current students faculty members prospective students and its alumni. The evaluation is based on principles of design categories label designs navigation and usable web design. The criti!ue loo"s at how UMBCs college of engineering and information technology website is designed in relation to the recommended information architecture format. Design of categories: The left local navigation bar is not logically grouped together. The overall mental model seem to reflect academic programs but items li"e #industry collaboration$ and #whats new # are not coherent with the organi%ation scheme. &ome items on the website are placed in more than one category. 'or instance #(hats new$ on the left navigation bar is similar to #)ews and *vents$ in the middle section of the main page. &uch items tend to confuse users because it is hard to determine the rationale and the distinction between the two. The site seems to be grouped according to related items but there is no guidance as to what each group represents. There are no section heads to distinguish groupings. 'or instance the left navigation bar is not titled middle content is titled

with inconsistent bold characters and what seem to be departmental groupings on the local right navigation bar have meaningless clic"able graphical images. The text indicating departments do not even appear to be lin"s until they are clic"ed. The images on top of the page are not appealing and not professionally presented. ,t is evident that the photos were cut from different sources and it is hard to tell what they represent. The page design does not fit on the screen and it re!uires extensive scrolling. simple estimate indicated that the main page is e!uivalent to ./ screens when scrolled. This result into a missed opportunity for users to read page contents located in the middle or at the end of the page. Labeling: The white typed face on a red bac"ground #College of *ngineering and ,nformation Technology$ is presented li"e a normal heading when it is actually a lin" to the home page. There is no indication that it is a lin". There are several inconsistencies in the way texts and font si%es are presented. 0n the home page text is presented in bold and italic format while in other secondary pages text and font si%e seem to be uniform. 0ne section of the home page$ )ews and *vents$ has a labeled heading while other sections do not have labeled headings. The use of ambiguous labels li"e #,ndustry collaboration$ and acronyms #C0*1,T$ "eeps the user guessing as to what "ind of content is behind those pages. ,ndustry collaboration and C0*1,T can mean different things to different users.

The use of non standardi%ed iconic labels on the main page supposedly to represent different departments does not serve any purpose. 'or instance the use of a wire grid and a bridge to serve as a lin" to the civil and environment engineering department is not obvious to everyone.

The website heavily uses contextual lin"s li"e clic" here here read more more coet1it news with no explanatory notes.

avigation There exists item duplication on the main page. -lthough #undergraduate student service$ is an independent lin" on the main page it is indicated again as a local navigation lin" to the #undergraduate experience$ page. ,t is evident that some pages do not provide users with a sense of direction as to where they are on the site. 'or instance visiting the #-dvising$ page when coming from the Undergraduate student services page you feel lost because nothing indicates that you are visiting that particular page. ,t is hard to have a feel of your location on the site. 2ocal navigation bars have conflicting names. - lin" titled #student activities$ when clic"ed the title to the same page becomes #student societies$. This might confuse a user whose mind3set is centered on searching for student activities. The home page is heavily concentrated with long sentences of inline contextual navigation lin"s that are not even relevant. Ta"e the case of this inline contextual navigation lin"4 56 universities that has received 7+88 million in research funding from the U.&. 9epartment of 9efense. :rofessor Timothy 'inin. The inline contextual navigation lin"s are detailed but redundant

There are several inconsistent throughout the site. 'or instance some pages have a local left navigation and others dont have one. 'or instance #-bout Us$ and #9egree and Certificates$ pages dont have local navigation bars and lac" contact details at the bottom of their pages.

0n first sight some pages appear blan" not until you scroll down the page. ,mpatient users are more li"ely not continue scrolling down in search for content. 'or instance if you clic" the #transfer information$ lin" which is under the undergraduate student services page it is hard to view its hidden content.

The site has several dead end and bro"en lin"s. The #whats new$ lin" on the main page #:rofiles$ lin" on the undergraduate experience page are all non functional.

Usable web design: The #-bout Us$ page does not provide any form of summari%ed information about the College of engineering and information technology. The page is further crowded with non explanatory lin"s to other university pages. This limits users ability to learn more about the college of engineering unless they are willing to browse the entire UMBC website. The site does not warn users who are set to leave the C0*1,T homepage through lin"s to other departmental sites and UMBC main page. (hen transferred to departmental sites it is even not clear how to get bac" to the C0*1,T homepage. The homepage is also full of uncertain clic"able lin"s in form of graphical images. The design of clic"able images can be confused to be textboo"s.

Many web3pages do not open non3web documents in a new browser and there is no option for saving downloadable documents. This is evident when you want to learn more about #C0*,T academic programs$ and #fast facts$.

There is no uniformity in the way lin"s are presented. &ome lin" colors are blue and others are red. This becomes difficulty for a casual visitor to determine which lin" color to expect on different pages.

The search page is well designed and relevant but the global navigation on the search result is different from the home page. There is also no lin" to go bac" to the homepage of the college of engineering and information technology.

&ome pages are not updated periodically. 'or instance the #<raduate experience$ web3page was last updated in March +88=. This undermines users confidence and trust about the validity of the page content.

Conclusion: -lthough the college of engineering and information technology webpage fulfils some information architecture guidelines there is a need to redesign the entire website. Current students and faculty members may find the site easy to navigate and search but prospective students alumni and external audience encounter many of the discussed challenges. 'or the site to be user3friendly the home page design si%e should fit on the screen and the number of contextual and regular lin"s on the homepage be minimi%ed. Users should also be provided with a sense of direction as to where they are which website there are about to be redirected and how to get bac" to the college of engineering and information technology homepage.

!eference: >arat ?. C. >arat and ?. U"elson # -ffordances motivation and the design of user interfaces$ Communications of the ACM, vol.6/ no.@ pp. 6A3;. +888. )ielsen ?a"obB 2oranger Coa. D+885E. Prioritizing Web Usability. Ber"eley4 )ew Fiders :ress. Fosenfeld 2ouis B Morville :eter. D+885E. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 3rd edition, &ebastopol4 0GFeilly media ,nc. Internet "ource: Bevan ) D.AA@E Usability issues in website design. In: Proceedings of UPA !", Washington #C, $3%$& 'une, ( !. Fetrieved ?uly /. +88A from http4HHwww.usabilitynet.orgHpapersHuswebA@.pdf

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