The Martlet

Home should be a sight for sore eyes, not an eyesore. But UVic’s newly redesigned home page is causing headaches for those of us set in our ways.

It seems as though we’ve finally left the ‘90s and launched into the new millennium — not bad for the first drastic overhaul since the website’s creation. But websites are meant to be user friendly, and while the UVic site is certainly trying to befriend potential applicants — a noble goal — it’s left the current students stranded.

Granted, we’re supposed to be the university educated here, and most of us have been using the Internet for years, but there’s something reassuring about coming home. When “home” (be it in the form of a website) gets changed and moved around, we can’t help but feel at least a twinge of resentment.

As with any new launch the site is still working out its kinks, so criticism might be premature. But as soon as the UVic home page loads, the four main options are Apply for admission, Ask a question, Check application status, or Take a tour. What about those of us just wanting to check our WebMail, scan our grades on WebReg, or see this year’s timetable? We can still do that with the new site, but it’s not obvious or easy to get to.

UVic has added a handy “Who are you?” drop-down menu to access information personalized for students in specific groups — Aboriginal students, international students, mature students, newly accepted students and people interested in graduate studies. What category do the 19,000 plain old current students fall into, though? We’re pushed casually to the side.

Granted, we haven’t been left completely out of the loop — there is a “Current students, faculty & staff” button on the far right of the menu bar. We could feign anger over being placed last in the line of tabs, behind prospective students, parents and counsellors, prospective faculty and staff, alumni and donors, and visitors. But clicking our button only leads to a more confusing page that seems to encourage users to log-in to Campus Security services (a closer look reveals this placement is nothing more than a hair too close to the login site for uSource).

Maybe we don’t like change, but mostly we’re a little hurt. There’s something sad about losing the ease with which we could view our latest news around campus, surf the links (albeit often dead ones) about things we cared about — like the UVic calendar, or merchandise from the bookstore. Yes, we can still do that, but it’s kind of like losing your crib to the new baby in the family. We’ve been booted out, overlooked, left to navigate the cold world on our own, while UVic’s website laughs and coos over all the young-uns who demand its time. Fantastic.

The new website does house a “UVic Experiences” section, where web surfers can read the blogs of real UVic students, faculty and staff to see their experiences at the university. That could be construed as a little homage to us oldies, or as just another tactic for us to help reel in the newbies.

As far as finding basic info, such as when tuition is due, it almost seems necessary to be tech savvy. Sure, we could phone the registrar’s office, but isn’t the purpose of websites to have pain-free easy access to information?

The biggest complaint may be that everything about the site feels promotional. While there is an element of allure to the new shiny look (still laid out in those classic UVic blue, yellow and white overtones), it lacks the genuine feeling that the old site held tight.

We might just be whiny babies. After logging into uSource, the links can take you everywhere from news and on campus entertainment to finding out the current weather at UVic. These capabilities may outweigh those which the old site presented us with. And launching the new site was thoughtfully left until the beginning of summer, after the craze of finals ended. It just doesn’t make swallowing a new dose of change any easier.