When choosing another school for the Comparative Website Analysis, I decided to choose University of North Carolina Asheville. While I’m an English student at USC Aiken and therefore interested in their program, I only chose to compare USCA’s English Department with UNCA’s English Department because I’m from North Carolina myself and was interested to see the differences and similarities between the department websites.

              To find UNCA’s English Department website, you first have to go to their overall school page. Once there it’s pretty easy to find the Academics tab at the top left. This button will take you to a page that displays a 4x14 image list of their offered academic programs. Since they’re in alphabetical order it isn’t difficult to find the English image (which is a picture of a teacher in a classroom, teaching students who have papers in front of them) and click on it to take you to the English Department page. While I understand why UNCA chose one of the images that I assume is from one of their classrooms, I think they could have chosen a photograph that more accurately represents their English Department, such as a photo of books they are required to read, or a photograph of a major author or two who are covered in their curriculum. The English tab also displays the fact that at UNCA English is available as a Bachelor’s Program, or a minor.

              UNCA uses a lot of color throughout their pages. Their home page displays their tabs over a blue bar, while USC Aiken displays their list (About, Academics, Admission & Aid, Experience, and Athletics) within white space above the updates the school has put out. Beside the “Athletics” tab is a red one that reads “Apply Now.” However, it makes sense that USCA has made this color separated, since future students are the main audience that the USCA website is tailored to.

              Once you click on the tab that reads “Academics,” USC Aiken provides a drop-down box that shows four separate categories (Academic Programs, Academic Resources, Research, and Courses & Schedule). Under the “Academic Programs” category is a list of subcategories reading Majors And Minors, Graduate Programs, Online Programs, Honors Program, and Colleges And Schools. The category font is slightly larger, in all capital letters, and colored red. The subcategories are smaller and grey. Both the category and the subcategories are overtype of a white dropdown box. After selecting Majors And Minors, the USCA list of Majors and Minors appear underneath a large photo of students from the school. Under the photo is a couple paragraphs explaining the goals of USCA’s majors and minors. Under these paragraphs is a bulky, excel-type of chart that states a list of majors/minors, the degree associated with them, a concentration (if they have them), and online degree completions (also, if they have them).

              While this list of majors is easy to read and simple to maneuver, it is massively visually less appealing than UNCA’s picture list. After selecting USCA’s English Department Page, it loads to a simple white screen with a title in a blue box that reads “Academics in USC Aiken, BA in English.” Under the title are paragraphs that tell information about the USCA English department as well as career opportunities and links to look for more information. UNCA’s English Department page is very similar to USCA in that it has similar paragraphs explaining what the department is like. However, UNCA also has links that detail the curriculum and faculty and staff as well, which I find to be very helpful and something that USCA should include.

              The layouts of both websites are simple to navigate and similar in the page design of a photo header with categories and subcategory links. Both sites also seem to use a bolder header in a different color from the smaller, dark paragraphs of various information. USC Aiken’s website doesn’t include near as many photos as UNC Asheville’s does, though this is just the transition page from UNCA’s home page to the English Department page. Because of this, I expected UNC Asheville’s English Department page to include more photos and be more visually appealing than the simplistic design that it shares with USC Aiken’s English Department. However, UNC Asheville’s page seems to possess more colors, which is easier on the eyes and looks more thematic than USCA’s mostly-white department page. Neither of the pages seemed to include any graphics or effects of any kind besides a possible light fade-in at UNC Asheville’s pages.

                            In conclusion, UNC Asheville and USC Aiken have very similar English Department pages. While both pages seem to be aimed toward the audiences of young adults and prospective students, UNC Asheville provides more information for their students (such as links to the curriculum included in the English Department and a list of Faculty and Staff) and invested more time in making their page visually appealing.

              I think both schools could improve their sites by including more colors and more photos. While leaving graphics and effects out doesn’t take away from the purpose of the sites at all, I believe it would make the sites more visually appealing to prospective students. Additionally, I think USCA should provide more information for their students and make it just as easily accessible as UNC Asheville did.