Douglas College vs. Langara College

     Every college or university's website is created uniquely to attract both perspective and current students.  Such a website informs current students about campus services and the school's news and events.  It also introduces perspective students to the school with virtual campus tours and online information session bookings reasons.  These features give them reasons beyond program curriculums or tuition cost to choose one school over another.

Image from purepng.com

    Here are the website layout comparisons between the two colleges that I have attended: Langara and Douglas.  They are two commonly-known public colleges in the Lower Mainland.  First are the features from each website, followed by my preference.

Douglas College

  • Link to COVID-19 information and updates on top row 
  • Horizontal main menu with multiple columns of links appearing when hovering the mouse cursor
  • Scrollable links with graphics to information for new students, such as,
    •  taking a campus tour
    • information session registration 
    • a roadmap to enroll into an academic program
  •   A search box
  • A row of frequently-visited links such as 
    • programs & courses 
    • admission information 
    • tuition and fees
  • Links to frequently asked questions by perspective or new students
  • A list of news and events, and a clickable button to view more
  • Links to major academic program categories with both text and graphics
  • Links to new student-related information with more description 
  • Reasons to "Why Douglas?" in bulleted points
  • Contact information to campuses and a list of quick links

Langara College

  • Orange and white theme colours
  • School name, search box, and login link on top of page
  • Side menu of major links on the left
  • More student services links on the next columns with light-coloured background graphic of a student sitting at a long table working with a laptop
  • News items below the menu items, including health and safety updates
  • Links to social media, contact information, and website-related links at the bottom  

Verdict

  • Design: Douglas' page is graphic-heavy, but they grab my attention over Langara's text links with only a background graphic
  • Main menu: Douglas' drop-down menu under each major category makes it easier to navigate over Langara's lack of sub-menus.  
  • Layout: I prefer Langara's simple layout of links and contact information that keeps the home page short and clear.  Even though I like the graphics on Douglas' home page, certain links are repetitive, thus stretch the page.  
  • Colour theme: Douglas.  Black-and-white is easier to read then orange-and-white.

    Winner:  Douglas College

     What do you think?  Do you agree with the comparisons and results?  See the school home pages for yourself and make your own verdict!


     

    

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