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Need help bad

Monday, Jan 25, 2010 12:09 pm
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Site Name: Ohio History Online Portal
Site URL: http://www.ohiohistory.org/
Created with:
Estimated Traffic: +10,000 hits/month
Areas requested for critique:
Design/Layout, Usability,

Posted by jcannon

Where do I begin? What started out as a great plan has turned out to be a huge disappointment to me. First a little about us and the project.

We, the Ohio Historical Society, are one of the largest state historical organizations in the country. Our services provided to the state include managing state archives, administering the state's historic preservation office, and operating a network of historic sites and museums.

The project was to gather people from different areas of the Society and form two teams to help redesign the website. The first team was created to come up with a "wish" list of what they wanted included in the website. The second team then would take the wish list and find software that could handle all the features. The look of the website, imho, got lost in the mix. A beta version went live. I need an outside source to help critique the site. I know what the website is suppose to do and hopefully with outside critiques I can present a better argument on how to fix it.

Thank you for your time and input.

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Monday, Jan 25, 2010 2:48 pm

Webline
Posts: 18

 #1 - Report this post

To quote your opening line, where do I start?

Keep in mind that some of what I state is subjective to my own preferences, not necessarily hard and fast rules to follow.

Overall, the colors work, but to me not so much for your site. Perhaps lighten up the black, or use your states' colors more, in a professional way. Maybe use an outline or image of Ohio itself within the header? Try to "visually" say "Ohio" on your page.

The search section seems out of place, right in the center of the header, making it feel "off balance". Maybe moving it to one side would be more appealing. I would replace the dashed lines with text, Like "Select a Category". Should the user enter keywords in the second box, or is it optional? Offer more direction.

Why use two menus at the top? What about just placing all the menu items in the blue menu bar below the header? Currently, the blue menu bar looks out of place also, as it is so short; adding the other items here, and stretching the bar, would look much better and consolidate these. ( A suggestion: move the menu items to the blue menu bar, then move the Find it Fast search into the top right of the header. Just a thought. )

Gray text on a gray background doesn't work; it isn't easy to read. Provide some contrast here.

The large flag image stands out too much, right in the middle of the page; to me it's not a good option using it this way, with the opacity and text on it. I would either eliminate it, or make it smaller and use it in the sidebar area.

The biggest problem I have with the main page is that, basically, it is all links to somewhere else. When a user/visitor reaches your site, you need a message to convey to that person what your site does, what it offers, why it is beneficial for them to be there. What is the core purpose of your site, in other words? I don't see that here. Instead, it is mostly links, in different colors and fonts, not really telling me anything, and honestly it isn't appealing or useful.

The "Popular Search terms" area should, in my opinion, be put into a drop down menu, or listed on its own page without the need to be scrolled through. As is, it seems like an endless list. Also, if clicking a term here takes the user to a Google search page, you might want to state that upfront. ( Actually, if you're just sending people to Google, they may start to think that they should have just gone there to start with to look something up. Just another thought. ) What about offering an "onsite" search as well? Original content on these topics would be better, if you could work it in, and provide your site with more of an "authority" feel, as well as help you in search results for these topics. Or even add this list as part of the "Find it Fast" search section?

"News" links seem to simply import pages from other sites. While it works, and provides information to users, what appears is obvious to the visitor that it isn't part of your site to start with. Again, original content would work better if you could work it in. Also, I'm not sure that information/content in IFrames is all that helpful for search rankings.

Going into some of your sites subpages, it looks again as if you're importing another site, due to different page colors and fonts. These also seem to have different menus, making things a bit confusing. The blue bar menu items, when clicked, seem to just reload the page at first, until you realize that the small scrolling menu at top right has changed. Mostly, this isn't helpful or effective; if the user doesn't see an obvious change, they might ( like myself ) think something is wrong with the link.

As far as SEO and coding, you could definitely clean this up. You have a lot of onpage javascript, css and sitemap code. JS and css can be placed in separate files, then imported into your pages, which is a common and efficient practice. Also, using a CSS based layout, instead of tables, can clean up your code and make it more efficient; many designers have done away with tables altogether, or as much as possible anyway.

Some SEO basics, like h1/h2 tags, are not present, as well as keywords within good textual content, on your main page.

Overall, I think you need the following:

1) A single, consistent navigation system, appearing on every page, making your visitors "journey" through your site easier.

2) Original content, rather than importing everything that the visitors sees. I think you lose credibilty if too much of the content you present is from other sites ( and again, this is pretty obvious ).

3) More consistency from page to page in appearance.

4) A strong yet brief introductory message telling your visitors what your site is offering them when they get to it.

5) A more appealling look and feel to convey what your site is about.

Hope that helps out a bit.

Tuesday, Jan 26, 2010 10:56 am

jcannon
Posts: 2

 #2 - Report this post

Thanks for the quick reply.

Here is the original concept when it started.

The Online Portal will serve as the entry-point for all things related to Ohio history. The Portal interacts with all program and content areas and brings resources together in new ways. It will allow us to enhance existing services and programs and will be a critical component of new initiatives. It will be based on a service model that presents both content created by the Society and that of other cultural heritage organizations, affinity groups, and individuals. Important principles of the Online Portal are:

* Networks. The portal will be a powerful force for partnerships, communication, government relations and advocacy. We will use Web 2.0 and social networking tools to mobilize our online communities.
* Connect. We will abide by the slogan “do what you do best and link to the rest.” The portal should include OHS content, but should also rely heavily on links to other history organizations and affinity groups.
* Tools. Be the “Google of Ohio history” by building tools for users. Users create communities and build support, and some will use our services. We will allow users to upload images of their own collections; interact with each other in forums and roundtables, etc.
* Integrated design. Our integrated design will include a consistent brand throughout the Society’s Web properties and allow users to cross-search across all of our Web content.
* Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Strategies will be built-in to the architecture of the website, allowing Google searches to pick up content anywhere on our websites. This will send more traffic to the portal and will increase the number of people using our services

Monday, Jul 5, 2010 12:01 pm

Slugmandrew
Posts: 4

 #3 - Report this post

I would add to the already excellent comments from Webline to say you need to look at the typography. It's a simple thing that could make a big difference with very little work.

Go for something that looks good on the screen like Trebuchet MS or my fav, Verdana, and maybe a darker red and blue - try playing around with a colour palette and see what looks better. I used to have a bright orange with a navy blue on my site, when I switched to a more brownish orange and a slightly greeny blue it made the world of difference.

Good luck with it! You've clearly done a lot of work and with some adjustments you'll have a great site.

Regards,

Slugmandrew


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