Dana Bell

Another web review

Having reviewed the TylerPaper web site yesterday, I reminded myself that I hadn't reviewed UTHCT since it's relaunch. One of the most impressive local web sites here in Tyler is now that of The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler. It was redesigned last year and launched in December I believe.

I'm employed there in a different department, and never did like the "swoops" they adopted. Technically, they are difficult to manage in print media, and personally can look amateurish if not done right. What it does in a website, however, is give the site some shape and character. Those curved lines and the image outlines are what give the website its character. Combine those with those boxy buttons and it doesn't look so bad, or so unnatural.

The overall design is well thought out and quite functional. The links at the top and to the right are logical, and the highlight links do just that, highlight the news items and items of interest. The rotating image links at the right are small enough to not be disturbing and yet noticeable enough to make you interested.

Some of the inside pages of the site are also impressive, most with a custom headline graphic. On some other pages, you can tell they are database driven pages. Departmental pages use a unifying page structure, which is a good thing. On the other hand, the directories are simply lists of names, numbers, although databases can do more that just list things.

That it's a database driven site is a good thing. That means it can be kept up to date by those in the know. The content management system is simple and effective but I'm more impressed by the design and integration of the graphics.

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Overall, the site design and content is exceptional. Technically, it's a model site as well. If you'll look at the bottom of a page, you will notice a XHTML 1.1 icon. Click it and it will validate the page on the World Wide Web Consortium site. Today, there were two errors, but I'll bet they will be fixed before you try it.