Educational web design priorities

General (commercial) web design priorities

Improve educational outcome by enhancing the learning experience

Increase site traffic by enhancing entertainment or adding value (eg free software downloads)

Accessibility for disabled or disadvantaged user is of higher priority than 'bells & whistles'

Attractiveness and novelty are (perceived to be) more important than accessibility

Make digestible the large amounts of information and material to be presented for compulsory consumption

Information optimised and minimised to retain interest of voluntary, casual browser

Multimedia and rich media used to enhance learning experience

Multimedia and rich media used to enhance entertainment value

Generic and consistent design of graphics and navigation to improve usability

Individual and idiosyncratic design of graphics and navigation to improve brand identification

Value is added to site by providing support to users such as:

• links to useful resources
• material provided in a variety of formats
• help, FAQ and feedback

Value is added to site by providing support to users such as:

• 'freebies'
• online transaction facility
• help, FAQ and feedback