Purdue University recently (in 2008) went under some website updates and redesigns. The previous website was absolutely terrible. It was outdated, unattractive, and nothing even close to represent Purdue’s quality and place among well known universities around the world.
The new design is much better and is done in DIV and CSS instead of the previous table design. The new design has its pros and cons. Here are some of them:
Pros
The Design: Overall, I like the new design. It is simple and not confusing, yet it allows the visitors find what they are looking for fast.
Boilersphere: Purdue has created a new section called Boilersphere. I did not know about this section until I actually sat down to write this review. According to the website: “Boilersphere is a professional and social network exclusive to Purdue people. Join now and find Purdue alumni and supporters, upperclassmen, faculty, and staff already networking together”. This is a really neat idea. Kudos to Purdue.
But, how come I or any of my friends that I asked don’t know anything about this social network? Purdue needs to do a better job in informing students about Boilersphere. I will also try to write a more in depth review later here on my blog.
Google Search: The old website used to use an awful search engine to search through Purdue’s website. It was so bad that no one used it. Everyone used to choose to go Google.com and search for “Purdue ????? ” to find what they were looking for. The new site actually uses Google website search which is great.
Cons
The Design: I don’t like the fact that some pages are fixed width and some fluid. The right hand side menus on the homepage make the page load slightly slower and are slow to open and close. The footer of the design has not been utilized at all. It could be used to provide great information.
Lack Of Design Consistency: The first and most obvious problem is lack of consistency. While many sections and pages of the website are updated to the new design, there are still many sections that are under the old design. The new design has been online for almost a year now and there is no excuse for this.
Broken Links: There are broken links everywhere. Even on the homepage. For example in the bottom right of the homepage there is a line that reads “Maintained by Marketing and Media“. I have seen many other broken links across the site which is annoying and not professional.
No Blogs: When I saw the section called “blog” I was excited about the idea of Purdue actually blogging. What I found was a page with instructions on how to use Purdue’s template outside of the CMS. However, no blogs or bloggers.
Google Analytics: Purdue is aparently using Google Analytics to track and analyze its traffic. I personally use Google Analytics and think it is a great application, however I would have thought a university like Purdue would use more sophisticated analytic tools.
MyPurdue: MyPurdue is a CMS system that Purdue recently purchased from SunGard to manage student accounts, class registrations, transcript viewing, etc. Unfortunately Purdue decided to buy the software as is and not custom made for itself to save money (in lower hudred thousand dollars). This is again not acceptable for a unviersity as large and rich as Purdue.
