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Fugly Friday: it doesn't have to be like this
Each Friday we take a look at the weird, bad and just plain fugly interfaces for desktop, mobile and web apps.. Welcome to Fugly Friday
After going through the submissions last week it struck me how so many educational portals or tools are not given the design love they deserve. Shouldn't there be a program where designers can volunteer their time to spruce up edu sites of all kinds? Maybe not for the for-profit schools, but there's no reason for Front Page-style mediocrity -- ever.
Anyway, I've seen firsthand what a crummy edu site can look like. Some schools clearly "get it," while some are obstinate in their fugly ways. Case in point: Josiah sent us a screenshot from the University of Akron's web editor UI (it's on the next page). It's amazing how crappy a site can look with such minimalism.
After going through the submissions last week it struck me how so many educational portals or tools are not given the design love they deserve. Shouldn't there be a program where designers can volunteer their time to spruce up edu sites of all kinds? Maybe not for the for-profit schools, but there's no reason for Front Page-style mediocrity -- ever.
Anyway, I've seen firsthand what a crummy edu site can look like. Some schools clearly "get it," while some are obstinate in their fugly ways. Case in point: Josiah sent us a screenshot from the University of Akron's web editor UI (it's on the next page). It's amazing how crappy a site can look with such minimalism.
So... what's this? A bunch of "add object" drop downs, eh? Well, if you're going to design a website, I guess it should be turnkey, huh?
Unfortunately, this winds up being more turkey than turnkey. Not only have these elements been dropped on the page with no regard to how they render on the page, there's no clear function or process -- the user is simply given some boxes and expected to make blind choices.
The worst part is that we're told students are compelled to use this instead of, say, simply writing HTML. You certainly wouldn't want students to gain that sort of knowledge or apply it, right? The justification for the blockage of any other tools? "According to the web master, the reason everyone has to use the system is because 'people who are unfamiliar with web design may have to edit the web sites' and they don't want 'broken' web sites on their server." Thank goodness for that! I can see why they don't want broken sites. Too bad theirs looks so bad it appears broken.
If the university seeks to standardize mediocrity, they've ensured that in both form and function with this tool. What we need is a design makeover here. Thanks for the tip, Josiah.
Keep sending in your nominations for fugly apps or web services!
Comments
9
Subscribe to commentsBlueFiberOpticsFeb 6th 2009 4:29PM
How would one go about submitting a nomination? Thanks!
Victor Agreda JrFeb 6th 2009 5:06PM
Just leave 'em in the comments :)
iGateFeb 6th 2009 5:23PM
that page deserves to be taken down. :P
ZackFeb 6th 2009 5:27PM
Check out the pitiful homepage for my former high school:
http://www.tpsd.org/ths/
You have to scroll down to really get the full effect.
At least they got rid of the awful mouse pointer animation trails since the last time I checked it.
finnithFeb 6th 2009 11:22PM
You guys are pretty unlucky, my high school's site is ok
(http://www.glenforestlibrary.com/)
ChrisFeb 7th 2009 10:42AM
Ha! Your guys school websites do suck. This is my schools website.
(I still go here... I'm a senior)
http://www.hatboro-horsham.org/hhhs/site/default.asp
KarlWFeb 9th 2009 6:27AM
http://ee.ucl.ac.uk
This site just sucks. It's entirely devoid of any useful information. I've been here 3 years, and I still can't figure out how to extract information from it unless someone gives me a direct link (how do they get that? is there a wizard you can ask or something?)
Wild BillFeb 10th 2009 3:44PM
I nominate the Saatchi Gallery in London's website. Great gallery, effing ugly site
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk
BrianFeb 10th 2009 4:07PM
I nominate http://childrensbooksforparents.com/