EDITORIAL: Why add new website onto end of semester stressors?
The redesigned cmich.edu had problems meeting its numerous launch windows, so it is encouraging to see a firm date set for its release.
But just because the site is finally ready to go live for thousands of users does not mean it should. Need we remind the Web team and University Communications that their much ballyhooed release date falls just about three weeks before final exams?
Getting acquainted with a significantly altered website is going to present a large stumbling block to some students and even more to many non-digital-native professors.
Despite how well-documented the new user experience is, or how user-friendly its design may be, the significant restructuring of pages and utilities will make performing previously routine tasks on the site an exercise in frustration until people grow accustomed to it.
Take into account the fact that many students and faculty may not even use the website until exams approach and certain tools and information are needed, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Why not wait until the end of the semester so people can slowly adjust throughout the summer and return in the fall having mastered it?
And why not establish a public beta, allowing those who are curious to opt-in to the new system, rather than shoving it in front of many who just want to finish out the semester?
Graduating seniors, for example, will have to waste time learning how to operate a new system that they are unlikely to be comfortable with by the time graduation rolls around.
Easing users into the program for as positive of an initial experience as possible should be on the forefront of the Web development team's minds.
Beyond usability concerns, what happens if there are problems on the launch day? Even the most casual observer of the tech world can tell you big launches of new products and services seldom run smoothly.
While we can only assume some type of contingency plan is in place, there is no reason to risk users getting lost in the shuffle.
If CMU waited one more month, it would still have a new website and people will figure out how to use it.
It seems that in a rush to make up for previously missed deadlines, CMU has decided to launch the new site because it can, without regard on whether it should.
