<p>What's up with the CMU website?!@@!!!@$@ <em>vomits</em></p>
<p><a href="http://cmu.edu%5B/url%5D">http://cmu.edu</a></p>
<p>it isn't the most beautiful or easily navigable site, true...</p>
<p>it's really disgusting...i would think that CMU being such a great computer school theyd have a decent site...im gonna fix it if i decide to go there
LOL</p>
<p>I use the site a lot. I am always looking around seeing what is new and such. There have been times that things were a little hard to find and I had to use the search option. I think I am just getting accustomed to where to go to find what I am looking for. I would love to know what ideas you have to make it better or easier to use.</p>
<p>well, MIT's great with computers... but their site crashed a day before early applications were due and they had to extend the deadline a week because of it :)</p>
<p>well, MIT's site is BEAUTIFUL..i love it. all sites crash once in a ahile</p>
<p>just funny timing :) and I rather liked having another week...</p>
<p>"it isn't the most beautiful or easily navigable site, true..."</p>
<p>A cobbler's children usually go barefoot.</p>
<p>Heh, good point, Strick.</p>
<p>examples of good college websites:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gwu.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.gwu.edu/</a></p>
<p>hmmm i cant find any more... the air force academy used to have an awesome one (had to have spent 5-figures on it) but for some reason they took it down, it was probably hard to update.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"it isn't the most beautiful or easily navigable site, true..."
A cobbler's children usually go barefoot.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Deja vu!</p>
<p>CMU's website has remained essentially the same since late 1999-2000 (see: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20000302154744/http://www.cmu.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://web.archive.org/web/20000302154744/http://www.cmu.edu/</a> ). Around the same time, MIT's and most other colleges' websites was relatively simplistic (see <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20000303051803/web.mit.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://web.archive.org/web/20000303051803/web.mit.edu/</a> ). CMU was ahead of the college website curve. The fact that they designed a site structure that is still usable/acceptable today is pretty impressive :-) (yeah, it kind of sucks my modern standards, but still...)</p>
<p>Thank you for your honest feedback! We are about to launch a new Admission web site this fall - new visual design and information organization. It would be a huge help to know more specific details about what you liked/didn't like about our web site. Please respond to this thread if you have any comments/suggestions. Thank you.</p>
<p>The CMU website just was simply not "impressive." Most students, like me, will look through it, because we know how good of a school CMU is, however, it would be nice if I went to a school, where every time I went to the home page, I went "wow," and wanted to tell my family all about it. Stupid, I know, but it is the reasoning behind many homepage updates.</p>
<p>CMU Rep: I think CMU does a good job of this already, but as you are designing your new website make sure vital information is easy to access. The major flaw with many college websites is that important info(admissions etc.) is hidden in the website and takes time and effort to find. This makes it a less enjoyable experience for the user, even if the site has the coolest graphics in the world.</p>
<p>A few suggestions for the admissions site...</p>
<p>1) Do away with the flash module. It is unnecessary and annoying (especially when running on low bandwidth).
2) Make the admissions page more uniform with the main CMU page and all of the admissions subpages. It seems like I'm going to an entirely different site whenever I click a link on the page.
3) Highlight more important modules like "the application process." Include specific instructions on using the Common App.
4) Have a user login that incorporates information contained in the "where am I in the process" (especially which forms, scores, payments, etc. have been received) into a personalized page, presenting it in a more direct and coherent way. (such as the MyMIT system, which includes a checklist of things they need or have received)
5) Organize links in a more coherent way. Right now there are three different sections of links: some on the right, some on the bottom, and some in a flash module. This can be confusing.</p>
<p>Different colors! I don't know what the official CMU colors are(I would think red since the logo is red), but the purple in the frontpage is not attractive!</p>
<p>Nowadays, more than 80% of the applicant pool will be computer-oriented. I personally know that when I see a site like Carnegie's I dont get a "wow" impression. It doesn't make me want to apply or even visit! It doesn't seem like it's inviting at at all. After hearing about how GREAT of a technical school it is, when I saw CMU's site I was not impressed. </p>
<p>I think with the resources CMU has (i.e. a great art and computer sceince department) it should be able to make an amazing site.</p>
<p>I agree that the colors should be CMU's colors not just... random purple. It seems like when going through the site, there's alot of long lists of links, espeically on the "For Current Students" part of the site. It would be better if the most frequently used ones were highlighted (the hub, calendars, etc.) and the others were somehow consolidated.</p>
<ol>
<li>yes - school colors and/or plaid would be better.</li>
<li>how about an online store that is truly online? My d wanted a t-shirt after she made her admission decision. I went to the website and found the "online" store. It consists of pictures (the closeups of the decals are funny) and a phone number to call. The person who answered had to put the phone down while he went to see if the shirt I wanted was in stock (it wasn't).</li>
</ol>
<p>CMU Admissions,</p>
<p>I've been looking at the site for years, and 2 things bug me about the home page:</p>
<p>1- at the risk of being repetitive, where did they get that light purple backdrop?</p>
<p>2- there's a 2 inch margin R and L...can't the page just fill the whole screen. We're all accustomed to top and bottom margins (formatting) but side margins are annoying at least to me.</p>
<p>Also, the virtual tour the last time I checked was poor. I thought it was embarrassing (sp?) for a high tech school. The picture of the cut is dark, as if it's taken into the sun where you can't see anything; and if I recall the library shot was of a generic stack of books, it could have been our hs lib. I have far better campus shots in my collection.</p>