Law school crap

I know, I am going to post on two law school related website. I couldn't help it since I am on these sites like my life depends on them. No really--I have to physically remove myself from my computer sometimes in order to stop hitting the refresh button.

First website: top-law-schools.com Yes there are hyphens between three words. I don't know why. But I still think it's cool sometimes.

Navigation. There are total of 17 navigation buttons on the home page. The site is based off of a horrible forum-style websites, and the navigation, despite the fact that every button has an obvious page that it leads to (I will get to them in a sec), they seem very disorganized. It's one of those "LET ME SHOW YOU ALL I HAVE NOW NOW NOW" kind of navigation. But because of the content-quality, the website traffic is great. I know I spend more time on that website than ANY other I know--including the horrible monster that is facebook 4.0.

Leftside bar, as shown here, is pretty weird for a leftside bar as they are random information that does NOT represent the sitemap. It's the kind of information that should belong under top bar information's "application" or "school information" of a typical website. But this weird navigation methodology makes sense in one particular way: the rest of the website is forum pages where all the information is distributed and shared by the users, whereas the pages that the leftside bar leads you to are what is written by the webmasters of the website.

This left side bar, when one enters the world of forum-style pages, disappears and only the top part remains as the stationary navigation. However, not to fear. The top bar has some columns designated, although not in order, for pages that are written by those overseeing the website as opposed to the forum-users.

So here on the right is the top navigation.

My problems with the navigation as shown here are numerous but let me flesh two of them in more detail. First is the look of the top navigation. Although it is the most important navigation for the rest of the website, it has the look of "disclaimers" in other typical websites because it utilizes blue highlighted category names and seemingly unclickable black words. These blacks words like "Law School Admissions" or "Latest Forum Posts" do change once your mouse hovers over (the default blue with underline), but has no after-click state (default would be purple) making it very difficult for people to remember that the top bar is your only guidance in purposefully navigating through the website. Second, the website is mainly driven by the forum. From the look of it, it appears as though the website is driven by the information that the webmaster put up. This is so because the first two columns as well as the fourth column (3/4...that's 75%) are designed for pages that lead to pages composed with information that the webmaster is putting out. There is only one column designated for the forum. The navigation does not do justice to the kind of website that top-law-schools.com is. I know from a personal experience that it took a very long time for me to find out how to navigate through the site for information I was desperately seeking. That said, once you know that there are basically two big parts to the website (one is webmaster-controlled content that directly deals with law school related stuff and the other is forum where users contribute anything and EVERYTHING related to law school stuff) it is difficult NOT to know where you are in the website (you are either reading grammatically incorrect statements that some dude wrote, or well polished prose). Understanding where to get to which specific topic within the forum gets a little used to, but navigation after the index page is not too much of a hassle. And lastly, you can always click on the top-law-school logo thing. You just have to remember to clikc on the words, not the rest of the top banner!
Architecture. The site has a lot of pages (because it's a forum, there just is a lot of information floating about), but to say that the website is "deep" might be misleading. Yes, you do have to click quite a bit from the "stanford law school" info page to get to 23rd page of "who would you rather do" page. But they are in no way hierarchical (which the word "deep" implies), and if anything, the number of clicks have to do with inherent problems of forum-driven website.

Content/Typography. Everytime I visit, I want to rip at the "top" of "top-law-schools.com" logo. But either than that, typographically speaking, there is nothing exceptionally bad or good about the website. The hierarchy, of what there is, makes sense (sizes help). And tabs/directories reveal the kind of information they seem to promise. For instance, when the website says Law School Admissions, they mean information that directly deal with admissions. They also have a very default-oriented approach to headlines. The index page's body basically has the newest posts. They are blue and underlined, and they are very clickable. Are they my favorite things? No. Do they make sense? It certainly doesn't make you go "Wait..."

Grid/Structure. The top portion of the website stays consistent. Although I have posted my problem with it in the above sections, what it does right is how it perfectly embodies the feeling of a true forum. It's simplicity (almost default-like) is suitable for the kind of website it is. The focus is on the body part of the pages (regardless of whether the page has information that webmaster put on or that users posted). There is nothing ostensible or fancy about the body, however. It's light blue and very forum like (for the user part) and white with heavy text and a few pictures. Since the website is very heavily content driven, however, the lack of pretty things and cool imagery somehow gives the weight to the actual content of website as opposed to its design.

Iconography/Imagery. Photos, a few are used, are there for informational purposes and not much more. Although I wouldn't particularly mind more pictures on the website for specific schools, the kind of information that the website is distributing (mostly about LSAT and Admissions) doesn't really call for any photos. What it has is sufficient, and the amount it has makes sense. As stated above, the seeming dryness of the website actually works to its advantage.

Color Palette. Even including the color palette, the website doesn't seem to have more than 3 major colors used. Blue in its myriad shades. Color-choice, again, seems to be a default choice and while there is no deliberateness in selection, it makes sense for the simplistic design that forum-style websites typically utilize.

Site Focus. Purpose of the site is pretty clear. It is for people to share information about the law school admissions process in its full picture. From prep to choosing law school to information about exams once you are in law school. Although there are few pages dedicated to information that webmaster wishes to distribute such as interviews with the dean, the main focus is the user contribution and what the information users share with each other. You can search for a specific topic or a user (with greater difficulty for some reason), and the way it brings information that is usually not officially available on school or LSAC website is very useful for the self-selected group of people who frequent the site. One particular improvement is greater navigational clarity and increasing accessibility to personal account page from any page of the website. Depending on where you are on the site, it might be a few clicks before you can check your mailbox through which you can communicate with other users via private messages.