Do graduate students ever do web design for their graduate student departments?

[Simfish]

It might be an interesting thing for some grad students to do (it's fun for a while, needs cheap labor, and many grad students have these skills). Might mentioning web design on an application have a small chance of helping? (in the way that teaching experience could also help?)

 

[fss]

Seriously, who cares? Web design isn't difficult nor is it particularly time consuming. Plenty of graduate students where I went to school made their lab web page as an afterthought. Nobody lists it on their resume or their CV.

 

[Simfish]

It's not difficult, but it does take time. And many current department webpages are not designed very well either. astro.columbia.edu has 91 errors according to the W3C markup validation service. astro.washington.edu has 25 errors. astro.caltech.edu has 88 errors. astro.princeton.edu has 36 errors.

And yes, design does matter, since many people do form first impressions based on how good the website is. Especially when they're comparing between departments.

The fact is, that if it's not difficult *and* takes time, then grad student labor can be used for it. Just like TAing. Plus, it doesn't take much time to make a crappy webpage, but it does take more time to make a website that's actually good.

Plus, many professors may want better webpages. Lots of professors have pretty crappy webpages, but they could use labor to make better ones that would also help advertise themselves better.

 

[fss]

It's not difficult, but it does take time.

So does grading papers.

And many current [strike]department[/strike] webpages are not designed very well either. astro.columbia.edu has 91 errors according to the W3C markup validation service. astro.washington.edu has 25 errors. astro.caltech.edu has 88 errors. astro.princeton.edu has 36 errors.

Fixed that for you.
NYTimes.com : 393 errors. whitehouse.gov: 26 errors. physicsforums.com: 24 errors. HTML validation as a measure of how "good" a webpage is is a complete fallacy.

And yes, design does matter, since many people do form first impressions based on how good the website is. Especially when they're comparing between departments.

If you are deciding on your school based on the department webpage you probably aren't in the right discipline.

The fact is, that if it's not difficult *and* takes time, then grad student labor can be used for it. Just like TAing. Plus, it doesn't take much time to make a crappy webpage, but it does take more time to make a website that's actually good.

That's all well and good, but people don't go to graduate school for physics to design nice webpages.

Plus, many professors may want better webpages. Lots of professors have pretty crappy webpages, but they could use labor to make better ones that would also help advertise themselves better.

Most professors don't really care when all is said and done. Professors don't advertise through their webpages either.

 

[Simfish]

Fixed that for you.
NYTimes.com : 393 errors. whitehouse.gov: 26 errors. physicsforums.com: 24 errors.

Haha interesting. Nonetheless, there are definitely certain pages that do hinder navigation (columbia's astronomy departmental webpage in particular). And many of them don't look very professional at all.

If you are deciding on your school based on the department webpage you probably aren't in the right discipline.

People obviously don't decide schools based on their department webpages. But the department webpage *does* matter when they initially stumble upon a webpage. Then they might leave it, or they might investigate it further (of course, the highly interested students will always investigate more, but there are many other talented students who may be applying to departments in other fields as well, and who have a limited time to investigate the webpage of each department). A very high number of people do leave the webpage on their first try. Plus, good webpages will also attract undergrads who know little (but who may be good undergrad researchers).

That's all well and good, but people don't go to graduate school for physics to design nice webpages.

Of course they don't. They don't go to graduate school to grade papers either.

Most professors don't really care when all is said and done. Professors don't advertise through their webpages either.

The fact is, people are spending more and more of their time online, and so webpages are becoming more and more important (well, young people are using Facebook more, but they will have to use webpages to reach professors). Good webpages do mean that more people will look at their research. Many of the most famous physicists (among undergrads today) aren't necessarily the ones with the most highly-cited research, but rather, the ones with the most web presence (Sean Carroll, in particular).

Plus, search engine optimization does matter. People are more likely to find your research if they google in "HII spectral lines" and you're at the top of the search results. And then they may be more likely to cite your paper.

 

[fss]

...

Look, you aren't in graduate school. You have not been through the process, nor does it seem like you have any kind of practical experience with what you're trying to espouse. That's perfectly fine with me, but understand that your opinion is just that... an opinion. The fact is that personal webpages- while they may be coming more common and sophisticated- are simply not a major concern for the average physicist.

 

[Simfish]

Look, you aren't in graduate school. You have not been through the process, nor does it seem like you have any kind of practical experience with what you're trying to espouse. That's perfectly fine with me, but understand that your opinion is just that... an opinion. The fact is that personal webpages- while they may be coming more common and sophisticated- are simply not a major concern for the average physicist.

Sure, but my original post wasn't even saying that it was a good idea. It was merely an inquiry for more information (from which people can reply with personal examples, which are the examples that I'm really looking for) - an inquiry of interest to many others too.

 

[DivisionByZro]

It's the Simfish vs fss thread of the week! :popcorn: