Comments on: Review: The eduStyle Guide to Usable Higher-Ed Homepage Design

By: Mike Rivera

Mike Rivera — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:20:09 +0000

@Cody The bonus section would be a great addition. It’s always comforting to know that others are in the same boat as you in terms of team size, political hurdles, resource challenges, etc. Speaking of resource challenges, maybe that’s why some schools didn’t get back in touch with you?

By: Cody

Cody — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:00:26 +0000

@Chris We had a few goals for the book. One was as a learning tool. We understand everyone is different so they’ll take away varying amounts of information from the book.

A secondary goal was to have the book as an advocacy tool. We’re hoping people will use it to help convince their team/managers/administration of implementing new ideas on their websites. It’s often useful to have a third party supporting your ideas.

@Mike We actually contacted every school involved to get more information about the site, their process and their particular history. Some schools were happy to participate, others didn’t respond at all after repeated attempts. That’s why some of the intros seem a bit uneven. We’re planning to release these surveys shortly as a bonus to everyone who purchased the book.

By: Mike Rivera

Mike Rivera — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:17:58 +0000

I agree that the site has a lot of the same information. In fact, the authors state that they derived their conclusions from having seen some 2,700+ sites at edustyle.net over the years. But to answer your question Chris, a casual site visitor would need to dedicate a lot of time surfing all the various websites in order to form an opinion of what works and what doesn’t. That research would have to go beyond the 20 good sites mentioned in the book to also learn what not to do from the bad ones.

As I state in one of my criticisms, the book would certainly benefit from a quick reference page stating the best takeaways gleaned from all the examples. You might call that “best practices.” If we’re honest, we can certainly find best practice advice in many books and blogs out there. However, the benefit of this book is the focus on higher ed. The best practices are tailored to our niche which is valuable in and of itself.

I suppose you could argue that good websites are good websites, regardless of the industry. I would agree with that statement with one caveat. Unlike in other businesses, where the web is clearly valued and seen as a powerful tool for wealth creation, higher ed doesn’t always see it that way. Much of the time, they manage to bungle their web properties through weak control, too much politics, lack of leadership and a host of other reasons. How to solve those issues is my second criticism. It’s one thing to know what the best practices are, but another to get them implemented.

All that aside, the book is useful. I think you’ll gain insight by critically analyzing 20 of the best higher ed sites in one single serving.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:55:28 +0000

First, I commend the fact that an attempt has been made to put this information into one place for all to read. Higher Education is very much a niche market with specific patterns around both usability as well as the target demographics therein.

I have visited EDUStyle on a number of occasions and was aware of the upcoming release of the book, but now having seen the sample chapter, I am a bit concerned about the book itself. Simply put, what am I going to see in this book that I am not going to see by reading the comments and feedback provided from the EDUStyle community on the site itself? What is new that is not contained on the site? Is there an introduction of some expertise or other information that is not presently available to the public that justifies a price tag of 40$?