In re-designing the COE Online site, I have been testing the waters at other COE sites across the spectrum. One such site is that of the Portland State University Graduate School of Education. The site is pretty good on many fronts. Here's how I see the breakdown:

Pros

• Navigation is generally clear, and provides access to virtually all content (within the /education sub-directory) through a consistent horizontal nav menu
• Delineation between the higher level (pdx.edu) domain is clear, allowing for search in the COE or university domains at most levels of navigation
• Faculty research profiles are searchable in a tidy interface
• "Future Students" nav item provides pertinent content in a professional context
• Persistent "Profiles" block on the right of the screen is an excellent idea

Cons

• Horizontal and vertical navigation are redundant most of the time (actually this is good, because the flyouts on the horizontal nav bar are a pain)
• Some pages at the lowest levels of granularity have only category breadcrumbs and remove the vertical nav, requiring a press of the 'back button' 
• Site lacks visual appeal, could use some more interesting photos and slicker CSS

Basically, this site includes excellent content and copy, has pretty intuitive architecture, but looks a little tepid and outdated.

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