College website comparison

This week’s instalment is a comparison of the Langara College, Capilano University, and Douglas College websites. 

People who use college websites are usually seeking specific information. Prospective students may want to know about programs offered or how to apply for admission while current students often need to pay fees, check registration dates, find out what textbooks they need, or access online library resources. Visual appeal is nice but the essential feature of a user-friendly website is quick and easy access to all college-related information.

The Capilano website does the best job of achieving this objective. Information links are grouped in logical categories – "Who Are You?" "Studying at Cap," "Admissions," etc. All of the site's web pages share the same basic layout. Site visitors are spared the effort of reorienting to different layouts while navigating from one web page to another. The same horizontal menu bar atop each page means never having to resort to the back button. And the search option is always locked in its traditional spot – the upper right hand corner of the screen.

The Langara and Douglas websites pale by comparison. On their homepages, both sacrifice functionality and consistency for the sake of visual appeal with large, space-consuming pictures. Langara, at least, establishes some consistency in page layout once you get past the homepage. Douglas, alas, runs a distant third in this contest with its new website design that sports a different look on almost every page. Lack of consistency on the Douglas site presents challenges most website users could live without.