thebin
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,848
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Post by thebin on Oct 6, 2010 15:37:22 GMT -5
I just thought i would take a gander at our main university web site to see if I could find any info or photos of new(ish) and/or planned buildings...big mistake thinking that they must have improved these websites thoughout the years as other institutions do out of habit. They are pathetic excuses for univeristy web sites, even for a third rate college frankly. They are a good decade out of date and show nothing that would entice a would-be student. How on earth this school doesn't use large and multiple images of the neighborhood and university gates as the chief visuals on the front page is beyond me. But not only do they not hit you over the head with how great a campus and location we have- they won't even show you more than a small peak even if you go looking for it and more or less know what to look for. They know that high school students use school websites as a major tool for university decisions right?
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thebin
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,848
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Post by thebin on Oct 6, 2010 15:42:50 GMT -5
Check out this beauty. www9.georgetown.edu/facilities/projects/This wonderfully dynamic facilities page would be one of the first places I would look if I were a prospective student and wanted to see what the new projects I could expect to use would look like. There are not photos and it has a WWW with training wheels 1992 feel to it. According to this site, which exists to give updates, O'Donovan Hall is still a project and the Mcdnonogh Building's "last updated status" is "In Progress." So very helpful, so very timely.
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thebin
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,848
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Post by thebin on Oct 6, 2010 15:46:41 GMT -5
Want to know what campus looks like? Sure....we'll show you a map. With tiny pictures in the upper right hand corner for a few of the buildings...that will sometimes load. Want to see that new $150MM Southwest Quad? Sure...Here you go... Its marked no 41 on the small map, no tiny photo to accompany this one. explore.georgetown.edu/locations/index.cfm?Action=View&LocationID=82
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thebin
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,848
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Post by thebin on Oct 6, 2010 15:54:29 GMT -5
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Post by LizziebethHoya on Oct 6, 2010 16:38:46 GMT -5
My only gripe (okay, I lie - its one of many) is that I don't know where anything is ON the website. Lets say I want to get to the SFS homepage. How do I get there from the main page? I can't seem to figure out a way besides to google "Georgetown SFS." Maybe I'm missing something, but I doubt it.
Other gripes: 1) Ridiculous amount of dead links 2) It looks the same as it did when I first clicked on it when I was a frosh in high school. That was in 2000. 3) I could go on....but whats the point? Its not like its going to change in the near future besides having a new webpage in the works for what, over a year now?
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Post by strummer8526 on Oct 6, 2010 16:43:30 GMT -5
Who at the University is in charge of the website? Is it UIS? They fall under Auxiliary Services, right? Margie Bryant. Maybe I'm wrong about who's responsible, but if it is indeed Margie, that explains a lot.
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PhillyHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by PhillyHoya on Oct 6, 2010 16:53:50 GMT -5
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Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Oct 6, 2010 17:31:49 GMT -5
Besides that, thebin, okay? (a la a Fawlty Towers episode).
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Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Oct 6, 2010 17:33:42 GMT -5
My wife is now taking an internet program (i.e., web design), so I'll have her redo the GU website for her next project.
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kchoya
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by kchoya on Oct 6, 2010 17:43:34 GMT -5
Good to see the home page is still sized for a 640x480 browser. I'm surprised they haven't added flashing text or an animated gif to punch things up.
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PhillyHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by PhillyHoya on Oct 6, 2010 19:47:09 GMT -5
I totally expect the Dancing Baby and some MIDIs to be added shortly. And Netscape compatibility.
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CWS
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
Posts: 272
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Post by CWS on Oct 6, 2010 19:56:19 GMT -5
The new one is supposed to launch late October or early November. Or, at least the first several levels will be re-created. You can see some of the sub-pages here: digitalcommons.georgetown.edu/blogs/guwebredesign/2010/05/The reason it has take a while, I think, is that they are doing a lot of video/graphic material. So, for example, you'll click on a building on the campus map and a video will pop up of people in that building and talking about it. I've been video-taped more times than I would like, talking about: life in Wolfington Hall; acting as a Chaplain in Residence; Jesuit Education; and the dog. If everything else they recorded is cut out except the dog, I won't be surprised, but i'll be a bit peeved. The design of the new web site has an external audience in mind (e.g., prospective students). And so there is a lot of branding that they're trying to do. The four themes you see under the crew boat guys are the ones that alums, faculty, students, other stakeholders have identified as key, so the graphics on the first page will regularly rotate in some story exemplifying that theme. I think the latest version has added a fifth theme: engaging DC.
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Buckets
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by Buckets on Oct 6, 2010 21:21:31 GMT -5
My favorite part is the 238 lines of white space smack dab in the middle of the source code for the university's homepage.
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theexorcist
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,506
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Post by theexorcist on Oct 7, 2010 9:01:56 GMT -5
The new one is supposed to launch late October or early November. Or, at least the first several levels will be re-created. You can see some of the sub-pages here: digitalcommons.georgetown.edu/blogs/guwebredesign/2010/05/The reason it has take a while, I think, is that they are doing a lot of video/graphic material. So, for example, you'll click on a building on the campus map and a video will pop up of people in that building and talking about it. I've been video-taped more times than I would like, talking about: life in Wolfington Hall; acting as a Chaplain in Residence; Jesuit Education; and the dog. If everything else they recorded is cut out except the dog, I won't be surprised, but i'll be a bit peeved. The design of the new web site has an external audience in mind (e.g., prospective students). And so there is a lot of branding that they're trying to do. The four themes you see under the crew boat guys are the ones that alums, faculty, students, other stakeholders have identified as key, so the graphics on the first page will regularly rotate in some story exemplifying that theme. I think the latest version has added a fifth theme: engaging DC. Why does every @#@#$!$!!!!! website include a picture of the @#!@$!$#@!!!!! rowing team?
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thebin
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,848
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Post by thebin on Oct 7, 2010 9:23:00 GMT -5
I don't mind the rowing team pics (atleast they emphasize location on Potomac) as much as the generic "professor in mid thought" pics. Our semi-urban campus in one of the nicest city neighborhoods in the world is a huge selling point that distinguishes us from some other very good schools we compete with. Pretty sure lots of other schools have professors who look pensive in thought from time to time. Show what sets us apart. Get a nice pic of 37 n O where you can see some town houses, some quad, some Healy, maybe during the Fall folliage....and that's it. That should be the front page's major visual- don't rotate it with generic chemistry student with beaker and two med students talking to eachother after class and photo of crazy girl doing interpretive dance.
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DFW HOYA
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by DFW HOYA on Oct 7, 2010 9:52:37 GMT -5
I don't mind the rowing team pics (atleast they emphasize location on Potomac) as much as the generic "professor in mid thought" pics. Our semi-urban campus in one of the nicest city neighborhoods in the world is a huge selling point that distinguishes us from some other very good schools we compete with. Pretty sure lots of other schools have professors who look pensive in thought from time to time. Show what sets us apart. Get a nice pic of 37 n O where you can see some town houses, some quad, some Healy, maybe during the Fall folliage....and that's it. That should be the front page's major visual- don't rotate it with generic chemistry student with beaker and two med students talking to eachother after class and photo of crazy girl doing interpretive dance. The imagery of Georgetown sometimes suggests a deadly serious and somewhat SFS-centric place, a place more appropriate for the next Christiane Amanpour than, say, the next Ted Leonsis. Not every aspiring college student needs to speaks three languages and seek to cure infectious diseases. I think it's OK to see some more mainstream imagery too.
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Post by TrueHoyaBlue on Oct 7, 2010 10:01:50 GMT -5
That's right, if we're going to have more Ted Leonsis's, we need more photos of American Studies majors!
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Post by williambraskyiii on Oct 7, 2010 10:03:10 GMT -5
I don't mind the rowing team pics (atleast they emphasize location on Potomac) as much as the generic "professor in mid thought" pics. Our semi-urban campus in one of the nicest city neighborhoods in the world is a huge selling point that distinguishes us from some other very good schools we compete with. Pretty sure lots of other schools have professors who look pensive in thought from time to time. Show what sets us apart. Get a nice pic of 37 n O where you can see some town houses, some quad, some Healy, maybe during the Fall folliage....and that's it. That should be the front page's major visual- don't rotate it with generic chemistry student with beaker and two med students talking to eachother after class and photo of crazy girl doing interpretive dance. I think thebin is my favorite poster.
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hoyatables
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,603
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Post by hoyatables on Oct 7, 2010 10:29:32 GMT -5
That's right, if we're going to have more Ted Leonsis's, we need more photos of American Studies majors! I fully endorse this approach. Maria Shriver would fit the bill. .
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theexorcist
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,506
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Post by theexorcist on Oct 7, 2010 11:45:37 GMT -5
Apropos of the thread this has gone down, I was in ICC recently and saw a poster in the College's main office that said essentially, a College degree can take you anywhere - there were pictures of Bradley Cooper, Alonzo, a director, etc.
One of the pictures was of Lisa Murkowski.
They're going to have to retire that poster soon.
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