Most college web sites suffer from "internet entropy" which can be interpreted as the tendency of all web sites to lose their initial identities over time. Menus start moving up and down, inexplicable white spaces and gaps show up on content pages, photos start to look like a 10th generation VHS copy, text styles start "diversifying" and the worse thing of all, users start to lose their way.

The first thing to understand about the template is that is not about design or colors as about structure. We are starting to realize that function for users is more important than prettiness. Therefore, navigation is a big part of the new template. Common elements shared by every page is another major functional component. A common font group that is easy to read on all monitors down to 8 pt can make users want to read more, not less. Even though many of today's monitors can "spread out" to 1024X768 pixels, no one wants to read text on a page from edge to 1024-pixel-wide edge. Therefore, it is important that we all share the same easy to read "window" or width.

Use the left menu at the top to surf through the many components of this template to see the difference a well designed and "high functioning" template can make.