A1. Key tools
This site makes use of the top/bottom approach, with the exception of the home page.
TOP: has a reoccuring menu bar on top with a simple pull down jump menu to other parts of the site (basically a simple Site Map).
I would recommend a Search input in addition to the drop down site map.
BOTTOM: text links shadowing the graphic links in the TOP section and general contact/copyright information
Since the home page is not just a splash page and has actual content, I think it's poor design to have two menus so similar in content, design, and layout and yet have different menu options. In addition, the home page does not contain all the links shown on the rest of the pages. Below are screen shots of
(1) the home page main menu links and
(2) a page from the rest of the site.
Home page menu
Generic page menu
There are two different layouts at work here, one for the home page, one for the rest of the site (and I'm not just talking about the menu links, the entire page layout is different). Since the home page is not being used as a spalsh page, one layout and design should be chosen and used throughout the entire site.
Additional sublinke relating to each main menu link are found on the pages of those main menu links. There is no defined pre-area as with Concord. Our site would seem to fit Concord's sublink layout better than Terc's. OUr sublink content is directly related to the main links and are the reason users are clicking on a specific main link. THerefore those sublinks should be present in a readily available spot on all pages, give the user a sense of uniform structure.
Below is a screen shot from both the home page and a sample generic page (in this case the About TERC page).
TERC home page
TERC generic page
Green - TOP (main links, site map, page title)
Red - Content
Blue - BOTTOM (text links, copyright, etc.)
Notice that in the generic page, the content and graphics seem to "cut out" the left-side orange bar. I'm not sure if this was intended or not (it is on every page). It makes the site look "thrown together". If the background was to have a colour, it might work better, but with the extreme amount of white-space at the bottom of the content, it looks like the table graphics were not set right. I would advise that if a side bar graphic is used like this, it be kept solid all the way down, providing a border and an invisible layout line to work with.
A2. User Profile
None.
B1. First-Time Users
The different layouts/menus are difficult for first time users. There is no descritpion about "what is TERC" on the home page. A new user would have to know what TERC is about before visiting the site. Just from reading the home page, the user is still left with no answers as to what TERC does.
The "About TERC" page is better at a description, however, it requires a click. This is beneficial for more in-depth/additional information, but a short statement should be made on the homepage so a new user knows very briefly what the site is about.
B2. Multimedia
None.
B3. Other Artifacts
They have a qualitative site survey. This is similar to our feedback form. It's short and to the point, good design.
News articles written about this site are re-formatted into the site's page itself with a link to the page of the original article and/or publisher.
C1.Professional Development Services
Text information. TERC does not offer any online training or additional software for professional development.
C2. Linking Teachers To One Another
None.
D1. What is powerful, exciting, memorable about the site?
The News articles and Feature stories sections allow you to order by title or date of publication, a very nice feature.
D2. What do they have that DITC could include?
Their site is using ColdFusion to interact with their database(s) (you can tell by the .cfm extension on each page).
Link to this Page
Website Review Outline last edited on 29 August 2002 at 11:56 am by dhcp42.mobile.cc.gt.atl.ga.us
