The new TAMU Web Page
Jerrid Hamann
Why is it when I browse into the second level of menus (e.g. Academics and
Libararies --> Departments), the title at the top of the right frame still
has the title of the first level (e.g. Academics and Libararies) ??
Furthermore, their use of frames doesn't allow for the title bar to ever
change from "Welcome to Texas A&M University". If you iconize your
browser, or add a bookmark to a page somewhere within the index, the
title will always be "Welcome to Texas A&M University".
Another observation: I'm an apache fan like everyone else, but is using
a beta product (1.2b7) on a major university's primary server a good
idea?
The copyright link fails. (www.tamu.edu/copyright/) Some sites serve
up an feedback form on 404 events, allowing the reader to push a button
and notify the "webmaster" of the broken hyperlink. Not a bad idea for
a server with many publishers involved.
That's all for now, I suppose.....
------------------------------------------------------------------
Jerrid Hamann Northern Telecom
Global Network Operations Center Richardson, Texas
jha...@nortel.com (972) 685-4147
------------------------------------------------------------------
Kip Lewis
On Tue, 18 Mar 1997, Aaron Bawcom wrote:
> I think there are 3 ways to critique the new A&M Web page:
I take that as an invitation....
> 1) "The Way Web Pages Should Look" by Foo Bar
To me, the black background on the left frame doesn't mix well with all
of the other backgrounds. I say make all of the backgrounds one color
(black, white, or that canvas looking bacground), or somehow make the
left frame "blend" more with the right one. 2 examples of what I'm
talking about are: "http://www.thedj.com/Main/thedjfull.html" (this one
even has a scroll bar that looks cool), and my page (toot toot)
"http://cis.tamu.edu/~kip" (it's not my original idea, but i stole it
fair and square). Also, the little rainbow things around the links on
the left frame are.. uh.. blah.
> 2) Whether to use certain Web design elements or not
I agree with Aaron, that if used correctly, frames are good. Animated
gifs are always too cool. (used sparingly) I love the way the gifs are
pieced together to "meld" into one.
> 3) How well existing Web design principles are used
I think the tamu page uses the frames correctly, but the choice of
backgrounds is less than desirable.
> BTW, what is the concensus on the lynx view of the A&M web
> pages?
I don't use lynx as a rule, but I did just to see how it looks. Since I
don't use lynx often, I have a biased opinion: it looks like crap. :)
I also get the "Frame: Left" "Frame: Right" that a previous person
mentioned. Also, the search page doesn't work. When I submit a request,
it returns "multipart/x-mixed-replace;boundry=textstring". I can only
D)ownload it or C)ancel.
All things considered, the new web page, imo, is a little bit better than
the old page with a lot of room for improvement. (growth room)
Just my $0.02,
kip "lynx suhx" lewis
Aaron Bawcom
Ok, here is my 01
I think there are 3 ways to critique the new A&M Web page:
1) "The Way Web Pages Should Look" by Foo Bar
2) Whether to use certain Web design elements or not
3) How well existing Web design principles are used
Call me a constructionists but I think most comments fall into
these categories.
From what I understand, the project sought to risk the cutting
criticism of the naysayers and not use the "lowest common
demoninator" approach. I think that this has been accomplished.
Frames:
As was previously pointed out. Most people hate frames
because of their original implementation. If the browser
God's would have got it right the first time, I think attitudes
would be quite different.
Also, many people don't like frames because of current
implementations. Guess what, they will never be perfect.
Tastes vary too much and the browsers can only come so
close to satisfying user requirements in continuing releases.
Given that the implementation of frames will never be perfect
in the browsers, should we ever use frames? Some would
still say yes but the fact remains that frames offer an incredible
commodity in Web page design - Consistency. The very nature
of "navigating" implies a reference point and frames offer the
metaphorical "sun and moon" to the landscape of the Web.
Also, using frames for a reference point is a great solution
when considering computation. Browsers can simply use
their existing rendering engines for this whole new area
of the screen whereas other solutions might of had to
implement entirely new code to an already bloated memory
space.
Frames may hinder navigation to some users but most users
that would get lost in a frames environment are either trying to
use a multiframe site or simply are inexperienced with
navigating with them at all.
Content
Content generation is automated to allow for quick and
easy changes. Content is accountable by many people
across the campus from varying departments. Hopefully,
these techniques will achieve the design goal of keeping
the site current and useful. As a fail safe, if a link is in
a not so intuitive location, the custom/commercial
search engine will get you what you are looking for. In
fact, my advice to people who use the A&M Web page
for functional purposes only, set a bookmark to
http://www.tamu.edu/search/ where there are minimal
graphics and you can get to what you are looking
for quickly.
Animated Gifs
None of the animated Gifs are links to other web pages.
I think that dynamic web pages are extremely aesthetic
and useful. They bring information to life and set information
browsing apart from the "dumb terminal" feel of previous
information systems (though useful, they have their
limitations). Most dynamic web pages use some brand
of either Java or ActiveX to make things move around
the screen. These techniques are relatively new and
cause many browsers to malfunction. Animated gifs
are the safest way to put "action" on a web page. They
do not require a large programming effort to be provided
by the browser and I've never seen an animated gif
crash a system.
John Paul Fullerton
jha...@cs.tamu.edu (Jerrid Hamann) wrote:
> The copyright link fails. (www.tamu.edu/copyright/) Some sites serve
> up an feedback form on 404 events, allowing the reader to push a
> button and notify the "webmaster" of the broken hyperlink. Not a bad
> idea for a server with many publishers involved.
That sounds like a convenient way of getting input, improving the
site, and giving users an opportunity to respond.
Have a nice day
John Paul Fullerton
j-ful...@tamu.edu
Chris Menzel
geo...@leona.tamu.edu (George R. Welch) writes:
> Chris Menzel <cme...@philebus.tamu.edu> wrote:
> >d...@tamu.edu (Aaron Bawcom) writes:
> >
> >Well, the opening screen you get by pointing lynx at www.tamu.edu
> >could certainly use some work.
> >
> > Welcome to Texas A&M University
> >
> > FRAME: left
> > FRAME: right
> >
> > Go to the Texas A&M Homepage
> >
> Chris, maybe you have an old lynx. On mine, the two lines you
> mention that begin with "FRAME" do not show up. (This is not a defense
> of that web page.) FWIW, I use lynx 2-4-2.
Well it certainly has *something* to do with different versions,
George, 'cept *mine* is the newer one! :-) I'm using the latest and
greatest, 2.7. I haven't looked through the docs yet, but it no doubt
has something to do with the way that lynx is dealing in its tasteful
lynx'ish way with all the endless changes foisted upon us by the
progenitors of those *other*, foul and bloated browsers.
I'll post when I have enough things to do that I fall into a serious
round of procrastination and figure out what's going on with lynx
instead. Shouldn't be long now...
-chris
==================================================================
Christopher Menzel | web: philebus.tamu.edu/~cmenzel
Philosophy, Texas A&M University | net: chris....@tamu.edu
College Station, TX 77843-4237 | vox: (409) 845-8764
==================================================================
Chris Menzel
d...@tamu.edu (Aaron Bawcom) writes:
> BTW, what is the concensus on the lynx view of the A&M web
> pages?
Well, the opening screen you get by pointing lynx at www.tamu.edu
could certainly use some work.
Welcome to Texas A&M University
FRAME: left
FRAME: right
Go to the Texas A&M Homepage
Not that following the link to the A&M Homepage is going to set your
heart a-flutter (unless you are *very* easily pleased):
Texas A&M University
Academics & Libraries
Administration
A&M Affiliates
Campus Life
Employment
General Information
Hot Spot
News
Research & Graduate Studies
Services
Sports
Student Information
Former A&M Website
Search | Phonebook | Map | Calendar | Feedback
There is nothing at all notable or particular friendly in any lynx'ish
sort of way about this page.
Not exactly a concensus, but one view o' the matter.
Michael Caver
>Well it certainly has *something* to do with different versions,
>George, 'cept *mine* is the newer one! :-) I'm using the latest and
>greatest, 2.7. I haven't looked through the docs yet, but it no doubt
>has something to do with the way that lynx is dealing in its tasteful
>lynx'ish way with all the endless changes foisted upon us by the
>progenitors of those *other*, foul and bloated browsers.
I know Lynx v2.6 introduced support for imagemaps, both client- and
server-side. I was impressed. I am assuming, from what you have posted
here, that v2.7 has incorporated frames (somewhat) into a text only
format. Kudos to Lynx, I say. It's nice to see them keeping up with
at least some of the major design changes.
-Ratboy
Philip C Kizer
jha...@cs.tamu.edu (Jerrid Hamann) wrote:
>Why is it when I browse into the second level of menus (e.g. Academics and
>Libararies --> Departments), the title at the top of the right frame still
>has the title of the first level (e.g. Academics and Libararies) ??
I will refrain completely from commenting on the "Frames" and other content
issues.
>Another observation: I'm an apache fan like everyone else, but is using
>a beta product (1.2b7) on a major university's primary server a good
>idea?
Acutually, yes. I thoroughly test servers before putting them in
production and when I began testing 1.2b* I noticed a night and day
difference in speed, and (even though a beta) stability of the server and
the machine both improved after installing the newest "beta".
I have been testing the 1.2b line since they first appeared last fall.
They were ready for a production environment as of about 1.2b4 (late
December), that's when I upgraded the user web server and in all my testing
(and since in production) I only saw improvements. I had hoped to move the
TAMU web server to the 1.2 line at the same time, but there were other
concerns at that time which kept it from happening till March.
-philip
____________________________________________________________ Philip Kizer ___
Texas A&M CIS Operating Systems Group, Unix ( 409.862.4120 ) pck...@tamu.edu
Dylan F. Alexander
In article <5gm64r$j...@news.tamu.edu>, jha...@cs.tamu.edu (Jerrid Hamann)
wrote:
}Furthermore, their use of frames doesn't allow for the title bar to ever
}change from "Welcome to Texas A&M University". If you iconize your
}browser, or add a bookmark to a page somewhere within the index, the
}title will always be "Welcome to Texas A&M University".
Until you choose the appropriate menu command (view bookmarks?) and change
it.
--
Dylan Alexander
dy...@tamu.edu
George R. Welch
In article <m3209c7...@philebus.tamu.edu>,
Chris Menzel <cme...@philebus.tamu.edu> wrote:
>
>Well it certainly has *something* to do with different versions,
>George, 'cept *mine* is the newer one! :-) I'm using the latest and
>greatest, 2.7.
I shoulda known. Sorry.
Recently I got a call at home from some droid at Intuit who
wanted to know if I wanted to upgrade to the latest version of quicken.
I told her I was happy with the one I had, and what does the newer one do
that I would like? After rambling (I was in an unusually patient mood)
she finally managed to drag out of me that I was using version 2.0,
and that it came out before she was born. Sometimes I really *like*
using the old stuff.
Gosh, it hasn't been *that* long since I upgraded my 0.97
kernel!
--George
George R. Welch O- g...@tamu.edu http://leona.tamu.edu/george/
"Angles that look equal *are* equal." -- Dan Kleppner
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tv(-) b++>+++ DI+>+++ D++ G+(++)>+++ e++++ h---- r+++ y++++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
Dave Martin
In article <m37mj53...@philebus.tamu.edu>, cme...@philebus.tamu.edu
(Chris Menzel) wrote:
}Well, the opening screen you get by pointing lynx at www.tamu.edu
}could certainly use some work.
}
}
} FRAME: right
}
} Go to the Texas A&M Homepage
}
}Not that following the link to the A&M Homepage is going to set your
}heart a-flutter (unless you are *very* easily pleased):
}
} Texas A&M University
}
} Academics & Libraries
} Administration
} A&M Affiliates
} Campus Life
} Employment
} General Information
} Hot Spot
} News
} Research & Graduate Studies
} Services
} Sports
} Student Information
}
} Former A&M Website
}
} Search | Phonebook | Map | Calendar | Feedback
}
I realized that one of the users in my department had an ancient Netscape,
since that is what she got when she accessed the new TAMU home page. She's
running Win95, but apparently has an older frame-less Netscape. Wonder how
many others are in the same boat and can't understand what has happened to
the A&M web...
--
* Dave Martin * mac...@tamu.edu or d...@aol.com * Texas A&M *
George R. Welch
In article <m37mj53...@philebus.tamu.edu>,
Chris Menzel <cme...@philebus.tamu.edu> wrote:
>d...@tamu.edu (Aaron Bawcom) writes:
>
>Well, the opening screen you get by pointing lynx at www.tamu.edu
>could certainly use some work.
>
> Welcome to Texas A&M University
>
> FRAME: left
> FRAME: right
>
> Go to the Texas A&M Homepage
>
Chris, maybe you have an old lynx. On mine, the two lines you
mention that begin with "FRAME" do not show up. (This is not a defense
of that web page.) FWIW, I use lynx 2-4-2.
--George
Chris Menzel
rat...@atheist.tamu.edu (Michael Caver) writes:
> I know Lynx v2.6 introduced support for imagemaps, both client- and
> server-side. I was impressed. I am assuming, from what you have posted
> here, that v2.7 has incorporated frames (somewhat) into a text only
> format.
That seems to be the idea.
> Kudos to Lynx, I say. It's nice to see them keeping up with
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> at least some of the major design changes.
I'd say "accomodating". "Keeping up with" suggests that lynx is
somehow a competitor to the foul and bloated browsers, when it's in
fact an entirely different (lean, fast, open, noncommercial) approach
to web browsing.
-chris
Jeff Baker
On Tue, 18 Mar 97 02:30:10 GMT, d...@tamu.edu (Aaron Bawcom) wrote:
>Ok, here is my 01
>
>I think there are 3 ways to critique the new A&M Web page:
I'm almost certain that I can come up with more than three ways to
critique a web site. Some of them are illegal in certain states...
Criticism #1: IMG tags are incomplete. The (apparent) loading speed
of this page would increase dramatically if you added the WIDTH=n and
HEIGHT=n tags to each of the IMG tags. Since the front page is
entirely images, this would help a lot.
On the hotspot page, the user must wait for the 300K gif at the bottom
to load before he can see any of the text. That's no fun on a modem.
Criticism #2: Bullet alignment. Seems like the bullets should line
up with the center of the first line of text. They don't, they line
up with the center of the text element, even if it renders as a
multiline.
Criticism #3: Shifted lists. Some of the shifted lists aren't
exactly shifted. See the "hot spot" again, under literature.
Criticism #4: I know this one isn't Aaron's fault, but I can never
find anything on this page without clicking through about 6 differnet
top-level headings. It is totally non-obvious how this site is
organized.
There, I scraped up four complaints.
Jeff Baker
j...@tamu.edu
Jeffrey Janner
Well I just took a look at the hot sxpot page and noted the following :
In article <332f9d1e.8958181@news>, j...@tamu.edu (Jeff Baker) wrote:
} On the hotspot page, the user must wait for the 300K gif at the bottom
} to load before he can see any of the text. That's no fun on a modem.
}
They seemed to have fixed this. I got the text right away. And yes, 3
minutes to download a silly gif is just a bit ridiculous.
} Criticism #2: Bullet alignment. Seems like the bullets should line
} up with the center of the first line of text. They don't, they line
} up with the center of the text element, even if it renders as a
} multiline.
}
} Criticism #3: Shifted lists. Some of the shifted lists aren't
} exactly shifted. See the "hot spot" again, under literature.
Both of these are strange. Some of the multi-line bullets lined-up with
the first line of text, some centered on the line. Some sub-lists were
shifted and some were not. Weird. Could be browser dependent? (fyi:
Netscape 3.x on Mac)
--
Jeff Janner | Nothing is fool-proof to a
jwja...@tamu.edu | sufficiently talented fool. -- Anon.
Lothar
Well, I'm certainly not going to say it's perfect, but I would much rather
have today's page than the old one. I really like the animation in the
main view. I think that was done nicely. Also, the "current event" gif in
the frame is a clever idea. My only major complaint is that canvas
background. I think it's absolutely hideous. I'm sure there's a better
and more eye-pleasing background out there to use. Maybe light grey
beveled A&M seals...just a thought...
-Lothar
-nigh...@tamu.edu
Jay Smith
I think it is easier to navigate but the canvas is just a little well A
LOT over used!!
js
--
Jay Smith
mailto:jays...@tamu.edu
http://http.tamu.edu/~jes6847
---
Today you will be either snug as a bug in a rug,
or smug as a thug on a drug. Hard to say for sure.
----
Big Jason
On Tue, 15 Apr 1997 15:53:10 -0500, Jay Smith <jays...@tamu.edu>
wrote:
I must admit the new TAMU page is better but someone needs to drop the
use of the Canvas Photoshop filter. The canvas thingy looks like
crap. I think a lite TAMU seal background would look alot better. I
do like the frames. Makes it easier to navigate.
Jason Fortezzo aka "Big Jason"
Dunn Hall, Texas A&M University
E-Mail : BigJaso...@tamu.edu
Remove "NOSPAM" from my e-mail address to reply
URL : http://dionysus.dorms.tamu.edu/
PGP Key : http://dionysus.dorms.tamu.edu/~bigjason/pgpkey