This is a summary of the freeform feedback from the web survey (questions 6 & 7), broken out into topics. The numbers listed indicate how many people expressed a similar opinion. If a person expressed opinions about multiple aspects of the website in the same survey answer, that answer would count as 1 comment on design, 1 comment on search, etc.

Topics

Design
Content : Quality | Freshness | Photos | Video | Interactive Media | Homepage
Usability : Content Organization | Nav links to add | Make it easier to find | Device Support
Specific Applications : Search | Events/Calendar | Campus Map | I am Williams
Customization : For Viewer | For Faculty & Departments

Design

40 comments

Feedback on Current Design

• Cluttered/too busy (12)
• Is dull/generic (7)
• Looks like a blog (5)
• Needs improvement – no specifics (4)
• Looks unprofessional/amateur (2)
• Is ugly (2)
• Lacks visual hierarchy (2)
• Does not reflect well on the College (1)
• Is not cohesive (1)
• Too much purple (1)
• Has a bad color scheme (1)

Other Design Suggestions/Requests

• Don’t design by committee (1)
• Don’t sacrifice usablility for asethetics (1)
• Make it classy (1)
• Make it inviting (1)

Content

Quality
5 comments

• Sports web casts – bad quality, is broken (2)
• Better proofreading of sports articles (1)
• Homepage news is boring (1)
• Information discrepencies between WSO, Willipedia, and staff supported sites (1)
• Errors on Admissions site (1)

Freshness
10 comments (also see I am Williams)

• Slider (2): stale stories should get moved off homepage, takes up too much space. Update them more frequently.
• News (2): news is dated, update more frequently.
• Broken links (2)
• Events (1): remove events after they are done.
• Committees (1):  membership info out of date
• Music site (1): list of majors is out of date

Use of Photos
15 comments

• More “sense of place” pictures – Berkshires, campus, etc. (8)
• More pictures of Williams Events (4)
• More pictures of Williams people (2)
• More pictures containing adults of color (1)
• More pictures showing our values (diversity, sustainability, etc.)
• Add slideshows, photo collections (2)

Use of Video
6 comments

• More video in general (2)
• Add video depicting student life (2)
• Add video of student performances (1)
• Add webcam (1)

Use of Interactive & Social Media
6 comments

• More interactive content in general (4)
• Add Twitter feed (2)
• Add Virtual tour (1)
• Add Discussion forum (1)

The Williams homepage should…

• Have more pictures (15 – see above)
• Be less cluttered (12 – see usability)
• Provide a sense of place (2 + 8 from use of photos above)
• Have more video (6 – see above)
• Be more interactive (6 – see above)
• Feature faculty & student projects/research (5)
• Give sports a higher profile (2)
• Have more emphasis on academics (1)
• Feature academic departments (1)
• Feature faculty interviews (1)
• Show faculty information/profiles (1)
• Highlight a student a month (1)
• Highlight community connections/engagement (1)
• Talk more about the history and traditions of the College (1)
• Have news w/ substance, and less self congratulatory fluff (1)
• Information about student groups (1)
• Tell stories (1)
• Have personal content, like I am Williams (1)
• Have more admissions information (1)
• Have Williams in the News (1)
• Have a mission statement or something about sustainability (1)
• Have a link to a parents FAQ (1)

Usability

Content Organization
40 comments

• Homepage too cluttered and/or lacks visual heirarchy (12)
• It’s hard to find things (9)
• Homepage content requires scrolling to see (2)
• Nav/categories don’t make sense (2)
• Links on nav/homepage not useful (2)
• Content is silo’d, need better subsite integration/cross pollination (2)
• Organization/usability issues reported on specific subsites (2)
• Information provided for things like faculty profile & clubs, is inconsistent (1)
• Quicker access to daily stuff (1)

Suggestions/requests for content organization:

• Function is more important than form, don’t pull a Middlebury (1)
• Organize by role rather than content (1)
• Would like a “table of contents” (links) for the College (1)
• IT & communications have too much weight in the nav (1)

Requests for specific links to be added to the nav/homepage:

• International (2)
• Community engagement (1)
• Facilities (1)
• MCC (1)
• Williams Record (1)
• Videos of recent events (1)

Make it easier to find

• Academic calendar (2)
• College policies (2)
• Campus map (2)
• Financial aid for current students (1)
• Donate to College – “give” link (1)
• Student newspaper (1)

Device Support
4 comments

• Make site more mobile friendly (2)
• Do we have an iTunes app? (1)
• Do we have an iPhone app? (1)
• Do more device testing (1)

Comments on Specific Applications/Functionalty

Search
10 comments

• Better search (10)
• Search results contain links to outdated information. (4)
• Search results don’t find existing content. (2)
• Good search results are too far down the list. (2)
• Seach results are irrelevant. (1)
• Multiple search boxes are confusing. (1)

Concrete suggestions:

• Simplify search to 1 box.
• Put a last updated information on pages.
• Search results should list most recent content first.

Events/Calendar
11 comments

• More obvious link to academic calendar (2)
• Integrate academic calendar into events calendar (1)
• Weekly highlight of events on hompage (1)
• Add icons for events on homepage (1)
• Calendar icon unprofessional (1)
• Wants link to the events calendar that is regularly updated and regularly
  functioning. (1)
• Calendar functions are too complicated/confusing. (1)
• Calendar “sort by” and “view by” links should be more directly incorporated into the interface. (1)
• Highlight events with an article talking about a specific event rather than just a scrolling bar of events in the top corner. Include a broader range of events that are happening. (1)
• Events planner/scheduler process not intuitive (1)

Campus Map
4 comments

• More/better functionality (2)
• More obvious link to (2)
• Simpler (1)

I am Williams
17 comments (3 positive, 14 negative)

• Love it (1)
• We should have more personal content like this (1)
• We should use it as an element to unite various subsites (1)

• Negative descriptions (4): “Cutsie/perky”, “self congratulatory fluff”, “pictures are smarmy/strange”, “superficial”
• Get rid of it (3)
• It’s stale/repetative (3)
• It takes up too much space (3)
• Update the images (2)
• It’s on the wrong sites (1)
• Move it down in content hierachy (1)

Concrete suggestions:

• Update or remove entirely
• Hide quotes, reveal them as rollovers
• Hide it from on-campus visitors

• Update or remove entirely
• Hide quotes, reveal them as rollovers
• Hide it from on-campus visitors

Customization

For the Viewer
7 comments

These are the origianl comments:

1. Being able to personalize it. I would want to see more about the academic work of the college. There is a huge page about athletics where the ins and outs of various games are described. Why not academics? For example, why not discuss all the senior theses in the various departments? Why not describe what they are reading in English these days or what the focus is in Psychology?
2. add cookies to default to specific pages. it would be great if the site remembered that i was an alum and would default to an alumni-focused page.
3. The ability to create my own Williams homepage, which would collate site links and content most pertinent to my work.
4. The ability to make a ‘favorites’ page combining RSS feeds from various sources so I have a ‘one stop shopping’ place to visit to read everything (or maybe get this in my e-mail).
5. There needs to be an easy and central way to get to all the info students need – documents, email, glow, dining, etc….maybe a student portal where you log in with a unix and then behind that log in you have access to all the student information.
6. Some ability to tailor the page for my needs
7. Personalized web portal

For Departments & Faculty Sites
10 comments

• More flexibility for department web pages is needed (7)
• More flexibility for faculty web pages is needed (3)
• In faculty profiles, department sidebars are unrelated and unwanted. (2)
• Faculty need control over their professional image and should not have department design imposed on them. (1)
• Departments lose their character by using Williams theme (2)
• Allow/Add different WordPress themes for departments. (2)
• Departments need autonomy in deciding their own look (1)
• Get rid of purple banner which dominates site (1)
• Having College banner/nav makes it hard to tell you’re on a department site (1)
• Forcing all departments to use same template undermines College’s diversity initiative. (1)

Directory

• Give people the option of having their cell phone numbers listed in the people directory (1)