from XKCD

Websites exist to serve specific needs.

News websites supply articles, photos, and videos related to current events. Online stores allow you to browse products and purchase easily.

College websites serve many purposes, but we should always remember why most people come to the website at all. It’s potential students checking our prices and whether we have the degree program they want, and then trying to apply or schedule a campus visit. It’s visitors trying to figure out how to get here and where to park and where the “Marshall Room” is. It’s current and incoming students checking the academic calendar. And while we’re doing all this, we also want to reinforce our “brand” and give our website visitors a good feeling about being here.

Your website is not about you. It’s about who you are serving. It is about showing them what you are going to do for them. Sometimes that means setting your ego and your preferences aside in order to give the people what they need.

Trying to make your website “cool” is worthless if it is not, above everything else, useful.