Looking for well-designed university sites

August 21, 2007 10:21 PM

Please point me to examples of well-designed websites for university research groups.
posted by Krrrlson to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

What kind of website are you looking for? One that will give users information about a research group (faculty affiliated with it, publications, seminars or other events going on)? Or something that's more intended to facilitate the sharing of information between the members of the group?

For the former, I could suggest sites for research centers I keep track of: This one, affiliated with William & Mary: . Or this one, affiliated with U Penn:

Each of these sites meets two crucial criteria for me. First, they're mapped out so that everything is well labeled; this helps me find where I'm going quickly. (And I think they're well-laid out for someone just surfing there as well.) And second: they're updated regularly. I never search there and get a listing of seminars held two years ago, for example. For me ensuring that a site is regularly updated is *the* most important thing.

If you're looking for something else, I'm not sure if I can think of anything off the top of my head.
posted by historybuff at 10:57 PM on August 21, 2007

Response by poster: The former -- an informational website about the research, people, publications, etc. Moreover, I am looking for examples of good visual design, not just good organization or maintenance.

Also, I think you forgot to include links.
posted by Krrrlson at 11:00 PM on August 21, 2007

OK--my effort to puts links in my first answer didn't work, the sites I suggested are: oieahc.wm.edu and mceas.org.

Also: don't ever ask me to design your website.
posted by historybuff at 11:00 PM on August 21, 2007

+++ Oooh oooh ohh. Favorite question. I have to design my own lab page too and am scratching my head about plans.

Here's a pdf containing good advice on academic science research group websites.
posted by lalochezia at 11:05 PM on August 21, 2007

I like the Center for History and New Media. Simple design, accessible news feed, short mission statement, immediate links to Projects, Tools, and About. (Staff and researcher information is directly under About.)

The Virginia Center for Digital History is a wee bit long and induces some scroll-down on the front page, for which I have a strong personal dislike. But overall it's visually pleasing and easy to use: organizes and highlights projects with quick links to staff, about, news and interactive components (blog and podcast).
posted by lillygog at 6:29 AM on August 22, 2007

You probably want to look at Blueprint - nice cross browser default design. You might also want to look at my Website in a box which was kind of written with small research groups in mind (let me know if you want to use this - I'll be happy to help with setup etc).
posted by singingfish at 2:28 PM on August 22, 2007

here is one: nexus which has some use of abstracts as pop outs when you look on the research page
posted by jadepearl at 2:46 PM on August 22, 2007

Also, see an OK ish collection: Best Lab Websites
posted by lalochezia at 4:06 PM on August 22, 2007

fmridc.org
posted by SirStan at 6:14 PM on August 22, 2007

The simple, clean, and lightweight design ethic works well for research groups. I made this site for a physics research group.
posted by FissionChips at 12:15 AM on August 23, 2007