Investigation into the home page of the top 100 University Websites.

Yoo, Sehwan ; Jin, Jongdae

ABSTRACT

Many Universities provide information through their websites for users. The key to the successful utilization of the University website is to attract users' attentions and then to provide the users good impressions of the University through its websites. The home page, the first page of the university website, is vital for that purpose. We have investigated and evaluated home pages of the top 100 University Websites selected by U.S News and World Reports magazine. In order to evaluate the home pages, 12 evaluation criteria (i.e., critical features of an ideal website) are selected through literature reviews on the website design. Those are scrolling text, screen length, search box, number of colors, number of images, number of background colors, use of web mail, sequential appearance of text and then image, use of different fonts, use of capital letters, use of breathing space, and use of multiple headings.

We found that most universities use scroll text (83%), search box (90%), breathing space (84%), and multi headings (98%) but they use neither more than one font, size, or style (85%) nor capital letters only (97%). They do not use more than four colors per screen (84%). The other critical features of an ideal home page are used relatively frequently but in less degree. But not a single university's website satisfies all 12 evaluation criteria.

INTRODUCTION

As information technology has grown up, the Internet has been widely used in many academic areas. The World Wide Web (WWW) is providing huge information about universities through Internet. The university homepage is usually the first contact point for anybody who seeks information about the university on line. It is inevitable for the university to develop a dynamic homepage that captures its users' attentions and meets their informational needs. Nonetheless, many university home pages have inefficiencies, operational difficulties, and even defects that stop the users from conducting some critical functions. Thus, it may be worthwhile to investigate existing university home pages to find what the common critical features used (or not used) are. With these results from this study, it may be easier to determine whether or not the home page has sound structure, good content, and effective combination of colors. Thus, this study is an effort to develop a set of guidelines for the good design of home pages for the university.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate university home pages and to determine whether or not they employ selected principles of good home page design, structure, and content. These principles of good home page have been considered pivotal to the overall success of the website.

The remaining portion of this paper will be as followed. Literatures on principles of good home pages are reviewed to develop evaluation criteria for the university home page in the second section. Research methods are discussed in the third section, while evaluation results of university home pages are presented in the fourth section. The concluding remarks are made in the final section.

LITERATURE REVIEW

University home pages are the door through which the relationship starts between web users and universities. The home pages are seen as a key communication component of each website. The first look of the home page is so critical that users may decide whether to spend time exploring the website and/or engaging in other favorable behavior such as book marking the website based on their impressions of the home page [16]. Thus, the home page should provide the sufficient information content in the right way.

After reviewing a literature on the issue of the home page design [such as articles 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, & 23], twelve characteristics of the good home page which are critical evaluation criteria for the academic home pages are selected. The first 7 criteria are about general characteristics of the good home page, while the last five criteria are specifically about the content of the good home page. The general criteria are as follows.

Scrolling Text. Most users seek complete information satisfaction in the home page, which influences the overall feeling of satisfaction about the website as a whole. [12]. Because of this, scrolling text fields that have much hidden information are deemed to be distractive from the core content of the website and to slow down use process of the website [13].

Screen Length. Users want to see all core website content at once in the home page [18]. When the home page ventures into more than one screen, most users would not travel beyond the first screen [12]. Thus, it is a common agreement among users of websites that the fewer the number of screens in the home page, the better the home page is.

Search Box. The search box is one of the most important features for the university home page. Many users can save time in searching information they want by using the search box, because a search mechanism can take the user directly to wherever the information they need is located. [16] It is better to have this function in the home page.

Web Mail. The web mail, E-mail that is accessible via a standard web browser, is another important feature of the university home page, because this function may make it easier for users to access to their university email accounts and hence coerce them to visit the university website more frequently. [9]

Number of Color. Van Brakel et al. [18] found that more than four colors per screen excluding logos and other images are distractive for users. A limited of number of colors rather than too many colors in a screen make a home page more focused. [8]

Background Color. Van Brakel et al. [18] also recommended that light blue, white, or gray color be used for background of the home page, because the light colors such as those than the dark colors make the home page more conspicuous. It is better to use one of these colors than to use all three colors for the home page at the same time. [19].

Number of Image. The home page should not use more than three images per page. Excessive number of images causes long loading time and hence distracts rather than attracts the user from the web site. [5, 21]

The five content criteria are as follows.

Sequential Appearance of Text and Then Image. The home page should show the text, first, and then the image, because the image consists of lot more pixels than the text. In doing so, users can identify the content of the home page while images are being loaded. [21]

Use of Different Fonts. The home page should not use more than one font size or style except for titles to make the layout of the site consistent and user-friendly. [21]

Use of Capital Letters. The home page should not use all capital letters in the home page unless in page titles, page headings, or acronyms. It is because the home space may be wasted and the home page may be hard to read [21].

Use of Breathing Space. The home page should use white space, called "breathing space" between page elements, effectively to avoid a crowded home page [14, 15].

Use of Multiple Headings. A proper use of different headings such as title, sub titles, and sub-sub title is always beneficial to the efficient structure of the home page and hence makes it easy for the user to comprehend the home page. [6, 17].

METHODOLOGY

We investigate home pages of the top 100 university websites selected by the U.S News and World Reports magazine. The magazine has announced the top national universities every year and provides an online reference on home page URL's of these Colleges/Universities at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/ t1natudoc_brief.php. Due to the existence of multiple universities with the same rank, the total number of sample university websites investigated is 105.

The number of screens in a home page is measured as follows. First, the vertical length of the home page is measured. And then it is divided by the height of the viewable monitor screen of the computer which is used in this investigation. If the division produces an integer number only, then the integer number is the number of screens in the home page. If the division produces an integer number and remainder, the number of screens in the home page is one plus the integer number. For example, if a 17 inches monitor is used to investigate a home page that has 12 inches of the vertical length, the number of screens in the home page is two. Because the division of the vertical length, 12 inches, by the height of the monitor screen used, i.e., about 9 inches, produces one and one third.

The latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 6.0, and Microsoft Windows XP operating System are used to examine all contents of the home page. Some contents of the home page can not be seen using the old operating system.

The sample university home pages are investigated and evaluated by the twelve afore-mentioned evaluation criteria.

DATA ANALYSES and DISCUSSIONS

After we are collecting each data of the top 100 College/University Websites, Microsoft Excel is used to analyze the data about the 105 sample university home pages. The Excel gives the analyzed data table using the spread sheet and their figures. The results from these analyses are as follows.

Scrolling Text. As shown on Figure 1, only 17% of the top 100 university home pages use scrolling text and hence the remaining 83% of them do not use it. It may be because scrolling text is relative outdated and impractical function in the contemporary home pages.

Single Screen. 53% of the home pages surveyed use a single screen to present their complete information, while 45% use 2 screens and 2% use 3 screens. (See Figure 2) The average number of screens in a home page is 1.50 with the standard deviation of 0.57.

Search Box. As shown on Figure 3, 90% of the sample home pages provide search box, while 10% neglect to provide the box. Most university home pages provide the search box to search information in the university web sites and/or WWW. The linked search file is also available in some sample university home pages. Among the university websites that do not have search boxes in their home pages, some websites provide search boxes in different pages than their home pages.

Number of Colors. We found that 19% of the sample university home pages use 2 colors in their home page, whereas 38% use 3 colors, 25% provide 4 colors, and 16% use more than 5 colors (see Figure 4). Thus, almost 84% do not use more than four colors per screen. The average number of colors is 3.41.

Number of Images. 20% of the home pages analyzed have a single image in their home pages, whereas 22% have 2 images, 19% have 3 images, and 37% have more than 3 images. Only 2% do not have any image in their home pages. (See Figure 5) In sum, 63% of the sample home pages have no more than three images. One sample home page uses eight images which is the highest number of images used by the sample home pages. The average number of images is 3.18.

Number of Background Colors. We find that 54% of the sample home pages use a single back ground color in their home pages, while 39% use 2 back ground colors, and 7% use more than 3 back ground colors (see Figure 6). The average number of back ground color is 1.53. In addition, 77% of the home pages use white back ground color, of which 46% use only white color and 35% use another color like blue, green, or gray with white. It is because some university home pages use different back ground colors for menu functions than for their content.

Web Mail. Only 18% of the sample home pages provide the web mail function, while 82% neglect to provide the function. Amongst the university websites that do not have the web mail function in their home pages, some provide the web mail function in a different page than the home page in their web sites.

Contents. 7% of the sample home pages analyzed provide texts, first, and then images, while 93% do not show texts and then images, sequentially. Most of the sample university home pages provide their texts and images, simultaneously. This may be due to the improved computer speed as well as the network speed.

85% of the sample university home pages use more than one font, size, or style, where 15% use only one. Most sample university home pages use a different font, size, or style for the menu functions than their content.

It is discovered that 97% of the sample home pages do not use capital letters only unless in page title, page heading, or acronyms, while 3% use capital letter only.

We find that 84% of the sample home pages have the breathing space between elements, while 16% do not. It means that most sample home pages use the breathing space, effectively.

With regard to the use of multiple headings, 98% of the sample home pages categorize their content using at least one of the following headings: topic headings, subtopic headings, or horizontal lines. Figure 7 shows a summary of content evaluations. None of the sample home pages meet all twelve afore-mentioned criteria.

CONCLUSIONS

We have investigated and evaluated home pages of the top 100 University Websites selected by U.S News and World Reports magazine. In order to evaluate the home pages, 12 evaluation criteria (i.e., critical features of an ideal home page) are selected through literature reviews on the website design. Those are scrolling text, screen length, search box, number of colors, number of images, number of background colors, use of web mail, sequential appearance of text and then image, use of different fonts, use of capital letters, use of breathing space, and use of multiple headings.

We found that most universities use scroll text (83%), search box (90%), breathing space (84%), and multi headings (98%) but they use neither more than one font, size, or style (85%) nor capital letters only (97%). They do not use more than four colors per screen (84%). The other critical features of an ideal home page are used relatively frequently but in less degree. But not a single university's website satisfies all 12 evaluation criteria.

REFERENCES

[1] Bernard J. Luskin, "Toward an Understanding of Media Psychology," T.H.E. Journal 23, No. 7, 1996, pp. 137-146.

[2] Cochenour et al., "Visual Links in the World Wide Web: The Uses and Limitation of Image Maps."

[3] Christine A. Quinn, "From Grass Roots to Corporate Image-The Maturation of the Web," CAUSE/EFFECT 18, No.3, 1995, pp 49-51.

[4] D'Angelo, John and Little, Sherry, "Successful Web Pages: What Are They and Do They Exist?" Information Technology and Libraries (17:2) 1998, pp. 71-81.

[5] Duval and Main, "Building Home Pages," pp. 218-227

[6] Ekhaml, "Make Your Presence Known on the Web! Tips for Writing and Publishing Web Documents," pp. 33-35.

[7] Falcigno, K., and Green, T. "Home Page, Sweet Home Page: Creating a Web Presence," Database (18:2), 1995, pp. 20-26.

[8] Flandes, "Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design"

[9] Fletcher, Jeanette, "The Role of Email 'Conversations' in Organizational Knowledge Creation," ANZCA03 Conference, Brisbane, June 2003.

[10] Mary M. Hughes, "World Wide Web Site Design" (professional paper, Texas Woman's University, 1997).

[11] McCann, Dana and Griffith, John, "An Assessment of 100 Fortune 500 Company Websites," Issues In Information Systems (18:1), 2003, pp.244-250.

[12] McCarthy, R., and Aronson, J. "Activating Consumer Response: A Model for Website Design Strategy," IACIS Annual Conference, 2000, pp. 2-8.

[13] Nielsen, J. "User Interface Directions for the Web," Communications of the ACM (42:1), 1999, pp. 65-72.

[14] Quinn, "From Grass Roots to Corporate Image-The Maturation of the Web,'' pp. 49-51.

[15] Rice-Lively, HTML Do's & Don'ts

[16] Singh, S. N., and Dalal, N.P. "Web Home Pages as Advertisements," Communications of the ACM (42:8), 1999, pp. 91-99

[17] Tilton, Composing Good HTML

[18] Van Brakel, P., Roeloffze, C., and Van Heerden, A. "Some Guidelines for Creating World Wide Web Home Pages Files," Electronic Library (13:4), 1995, pp. 383-388.

[19] Vincent Flanders, "Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking a Bad Design," http://www. Webpagesthatsuck.come/home.html, 1996.

[20] William J. Gibbs and He Ping Cheng, "Formative Evaluation and World Wide Web Hypermedia," ERIC document, ED 391506, 1995.

[21] Woodbeck, "Making the Web Work for You," pp. 40-45.

Sehwan Yoo, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Jongdae Jin, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Figure 1

Yes 17%
No 83%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 2

More than 2 2%
2 45%
1 53%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 3

Yes 90%
No 10%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 4

More than 5 5%
5 11%
4 25%
3 38%
2 19%
1 1%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 5

More than 7 6%
6 8%
5 8%
4 15%
3 19%
2 22%
1 20%
0 2%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 6

4 background colors 1%
3 background colors 6%
2 background colors 39%
1 background colors 54%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 7

Content Criteria Yes No

Provide text, first, and then image? 7% 93%
Use more than one font, size, or style? 15% 85%
c. Use capital letters only unless in page titles, 3% 97%
 page heading, or acronyms?
d. Give the breathing space between elements? 84% 16%
e. Use multiple headings? 98% 2%