Baker on Web Design

Carrie Baker, Berry College.
Effective Website Design for Women's Studies Programs.
NWSA, Oakland California June 2006.

 

I. Introductory Remarks.

In preparation for today's talk, I spent a lot of time looking at websites. There's a tremendous variety out there. Some are pretty boring (no visuals, basic information scrolling down forever); others are very dynamic, with multiple levels and exciting visuals. Some convey a sense of a very generic, soulless program, while others strongly convey a program's personality e.g. how it is unique, that it seems fun, etc.

In today's e-world, a good website is a critical tool for a successful women's studies program. I encourage you to spend some time developing, updating, and maintaining your website.

What can you achieve through a website?

• Convey information
• Promote your program (recruit students, faculty, etc.)
• Create/enhance a sense of community and an identity of a program
• Communicate the program's visions, goals, mission, etc.
• Possibly create a forum for communication and networking
• Establish your reputation

Key issue: Decide who you are & how you want to portray yourself to the world, e.g. academic, activist, professional, multicultural, etc. Through images, font, content, etc., you can communicate the qualities of your program.

Key advice: Convey up front what is unique about your program

During the rest of this presentation, I will first describe the basic principles of good website design and then describe what I found when I reviewed women's studies websites from around the country and give you ideas for your own sites.

II. Basic Principles of Good Web Design (see resources at bottom of handout):

Your web site should be easy to read

1. do not put too much text on any one page; it's frustrating to have to scroll down forever; break your information up by topic and create subpages;
2. use photographs and graphics to break up the text and make the page more interesting.
3. Beware of not enough information or too much information; find the right balance
1. You web site should be easy to navigate—very important!
   1. use a stable navigation bar (see example sites)
2. Your web site should be easy to find (create links to it in as many places as possible and make sure they are current and correct—see handout below). Create links from other college webpages as well (women's center, related departments, etc.).
3. Your web page layout and design should be consistent throughout the site (many schools require you to use their format because of branding concerns, which is good for consistency, but can be boring so try to spice it up within your limitations).
4. Your web site should be quick to download so be careful about how you load images—make sure they're not too big.
5. Keep your web site current (take a class in FrontPage, DreamWeaver, or Macromedia Contribute, get the software installed on your computer, and gain access to update your web site yourself).

III. Questions to ask yourself as you develop/revise your webpage:

1. Who is the audience? Design your web site with your audience in mind.

*Current students

*Prospective students

*Alumni

*Community members

*Make sure your website addresses all of these potential audiences; many websites (ex: Cal State at San Marcos ) were designed to be helpful resources for current students rather than prospective students.

*For large programs, you might create links for these various constituencies to make the website easier to navigate.

2. Visuals: Do you want a logo? Photographs? What is your color scheme? Font?

These elements create the mood of your site. Young people today are very visual. An interesting logo or images can really spice things up. Powerpoint with sample images. See example sites.

What we find:

-logos/graphic images

-photographs of historic people

-photographs of current students

-quotations w/graphics

3. What elements are usually included?

Most websites included these basics: a program description, a list of faculty, degree offerings and requirements, a course list, and links to resources. Other features I saw were:

*Upcoming events page

*Information about scholarships and awards available to women's studies students and past recipients

*Internship information

*Information about what you can do with a women's studies degree

*A history of the program

*A letter from the director (more conversational/personal than a mission statement or program description)

*Student organization link

*Information about alums (appealing because they provide examples of the WNS degree is being applied and current students in the program may also find it helpful to use alums as a resource—networking is important.

*Several sites are developing networking spaces for students (e.g. links to a yahoo discussion blog, which can promote networking and/or activism)

*Rotating student profile with a description of student's interests and a quotation

*Personalize a website with quotations from students and professors; candid photos of students, professors, guest speakers; Auburn's web site features photos of female Auburn students from early/mid 20 th century http://www.auburn.edu/academic/other/womens_studies/contact/index.html

*Option to donate

4. What should the “Meet the Faculty” link include? See example links.

*Although most sites included a meet the faculty section, often the only information given about them was their name. A potential student may like to know the courses taught and research interests of each professor. Pictures of faculty might also be a good idea. You might also include contact information.

*It would also be helpful and interesting to learn about the dissertations, research interests, and projects being conducted by current students; perhaps a “Meet the Students” section.

5. What links should a website provide ?

Usually sites had:

*Academic organizations in WNS, such as NWSA, regional women's studies organizations.

*Resources in WNS, such as library collections, online resources (CLWU), bibliographies, research centers Women's Studies Online Resources , Center for Research on Women at the University of Memphis , National Council for Research on Women , University of Maryland Women's Studies Database , Women and Gender Studies Web Sites , http://www.scrippscol.edu/~dept/wstudies/index.htm .

*Activism/feminism sites (NOW, Feminist Majority, etc., see, e.g. list at Bryn Mawr http://www.brynmawr.edu/femgen/activism.shtml )

*List of women's studies related resources on campus, e.g. women's center; women's studies-related library holdings (Colorado State http://chass.colostate-pueblo.edu/womenstudies/library.html ); info about feminist student organizations (officers, regular meeting times, etc.); school policies on disabilities, sexual harassment and assault, etc.;

*Local resources, such as the local rape crisis center, domestic violence shelter, etc.

*Info about campus and community volunteer/work opportunities.