Manolis and May-Li's Report

Intended purpose:

Provide information about the EECS at MIT for both insiders and outsiders in a compact and comprehensive format. (this is we believe the purpose of all the links that make this page flashy and less attractive).

Comments:

How well does it fulfill the intended purposes:

For a browsing person who is seeking specific information the pages provide it in an efficient way. However, someone who just wants a general idea will have to go deep enough in the menus and submenus before he gets the first piece of information. You are supposing only people who know exactly what specific facts they are seeking will view the page. In general, the page fullfills the intended purpose.

Esthetical point of view:

TOO MUCH blue. (in both links and single image) might have to consider changing the blue of the graphic (the blue hurts my eyes). Too many links. This makes the page shorter, easier to download, but should be implemented (see, show off) to be more appealing. I'm sure you can find something to change this blue of the links in to black or whatever. (show off!!). Super-simple graphic links might be a solution?

Structure of the pages:

I think the links are definitely the strong point of this page. They are very well organized and very easily comprehended. I think it would be a good idea to have the most essential information and links at or very near the top of tha page though (eg. the VI-A page http://www-eecs.mit.edu/via/index.html, has a bit of less essential info (a photo) at the top of the page. The summary or the links should be at the top.) Also, saying welcome to the EECS home page halfway down the page is kind of redundant - put it nearer the top or don't bother saying it at all.

Surfin':

In general, both the structure and the links are efficient. Navigating is easy. Again, it would be better if the links were near the top of each page.

Superfluous and/or missing information

Two photos of the director of VIA might not be highly necessary, and do not add to the aesthetic appeal of the page, despite the fact that they are graphics. The link beneath his photo on the main page leads to another photo. The one link would be sufficient.

What would we change?

The simple yet attractive picture MIT EECS /\/\/\/\/\/\ is confusing being in all the pages. I think that the same image in a bigger format for the main page would be well appreciated. In the events home page, the only thing one sees is: abstract, abstract, abstract. No one will find the word appealing. The repeated work does not differentiate one event from the other. You should emphasize the title of the event (emph, strong). (eg. I don't see the name of the Bush symposium anywhere at a glance - it isn't underlined linked or anything.)