PURPOSE

The purpose of this assignment is to compare two web sites. The first web site is Wake Technical Community College and the second is Bellevue Community College. We will discuss our likes and dislikes of both web sites. We will also point out areas pertaining to each site such as alignment, color, contrast, grouping, consistency, and balance. We will determine which one would appeal more to its viewers.

WTCC

With Wake Technical Community College's web site (found at http://www.waketech.edu), we found several cons and few pros. Despite the layout being very simple, the navigational links are accessible and easy to find. The graphic of Western Wake Campus at Millpond on the right balances the layout with the links and text to the graphic’s left. The links being aligned on the left-hand side of the page are helpful to viewers, since most site visitors tend to look to the upper-left-hand side of a site as it loads. However, the rest of the layout seemed lacking in organization, color scheme, and style. While the layout was balanced, the use of red, blue, white, black, yellow, and dark yellow colors left something to be desired. Usually a college site uses their school colors in designing their school web site layout, but Wake Tech's site did not make it clear whether or not they were using their school colors by having such a varied selection. A plus was that the web designer utilized high contrasts in colors by using a white background with dark text, which makes it easier for viewers to read the content. The content itself was paragraphed appropriately, making it easy to read. However, the pages of the site were not entirely consistent. The layout changed occasionally as we browsed through the web site. As a result, it did not give the web site a unified feeling. It was difficult to navigate around the site and find what it is that you are looking for as well. The site was slow to refresh when browsing. When we viewed the source of the pages, the Hypertext Markup Language used to code them was disorganized. This also adds a serious con to the web site for a school that prides itself on its technical expertise. Overall the site was unprofessional and disappointing.

BELLEVUE COMMUNITY COLLEGE WEB SITE

Bellevue Community College's web site (located at http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/) was extremely appealing in almost every aspect. It was clear in their layout where the navigational links were located, and the level of priority the other links were on the page. The balance of the layout only seemed to falter on the rest of the pages, where the navigational links had been placed higher than the content next to it, creating a slightly disorientating feel. For the main colors of their layout, they used their school colors, creating a sense of school pride. Although we were not positive about the use of some red with the purple and orange layout, it does not distract the viewer away from the web site’s content. Their level of contrast was not as high as WTCC’s, but with the use of dark purple text against a white background, the content was readable. They paragraphed their content well, rather than listing large paragraphs that avert a visitor’s attention. The site wasn’t always consistent, and was a completely different layout in some places. Despite the issue with the high positioning of the navigational links, the layout was kept balanced with content on the right, links on the left and additional information beneath the links. The layout itself is centered in the middle of the page, so that there is an equal amount of space on each side of the layout. The web site's content was simply outstanding. The information included a detailed calendar and statistics such as the size of the campus in acres, student race/ethnicity percentages, student gender distribution, and the total number of their students, which shows that they are involved with the students. You really had the sense that you were part of a professional, detail-oriented institution. You are able to browse the site efficiently gathering any information that you need.

CONCLUSION

In our comparison of the two community college’s web sites we determined that Bellevue had an overall superior site. One is able to get the feel for the school and their involvement with the student body by posting relevant information for current and prospective students. Wake Tech’s web site was lacking information and appeal in far more areas in comparison. There are many improvements that could be made to Wake Tech’s web site, such as the use of school colors, an organized site structure and coding, and more information about the college. Our group suggests that WTCC holds a contest, allowing its current students to submit a draft of a new layout, for starters. Then the web site could be reconstructed, and its coding flaws corrected.