At the beginning of June, Georgetown University’s Law Library released a comprehensive look at over 200 law school websites. What’s impressive about this report, besides the sheer volume (ends at page 450…) is that it’s format really does give a sense of trends in law school web design. Author Roger Skalbeck and his research and compilation team included optimized browser images of all the homepages, site color schemes and a catalog of functional design elements. This is laid out alongside vital school stats like tuition, faculty-to-student ratio and the school’s US News ranking.
This study has obvious voyeuristic value for any law student/prof/librarian/generally nosy person, but it’s also been helpful as I’ve assisted my school in the redesign process for its homepage (which should be completed this fall). Law schools, like most big institutions, are keenly interested in what the competition is up to, and Georgetown Law Library has delivered nearly all the key info to assist in the race for the best, brightest or busiest site. Who picks a palette of blues and a little red? Most everyone. Which use RSS? Not many. Who’s got a site that’s 5,000 pixels high and one big red gradient? See for yourself. There are also images of every school’s logo included at the end of the document.
My only criticism is that it would be nice to have all this information in a database, rather than a PDF, for easier selective comparison.
Skalbeck will be presenting his survey of law school websites at the CALI 2009 Conference in Boulder, CO, on June 18. The complete report, available for download, print purchase or online viewing can be found here: http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/sitesurvey/.
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I’m starting at Roger Williams in the fall- I think our website is by far the worst of the bunch. Hoping an update is planned soon…
@RWU-0L, Well, you do have some nice long lists of plain-text, alphabetical links there. But aesthetically it ain’t so bad. :)
I think the biggest challenge for institutions is realizing that how they organize information for themselves is not how it is useful or intuitive for their audiences (primarily prospective and current students and alumni).