Next Stop, Philadelphia

I write en route to Princeton; by way of Richmond, Washington, D.C. and Wilmington, Delaware. Amtrak is the way to go - power at every seat and the "quiet car" is for introverts and business travelers who want uninterrupted time to concentrate.

I'm thinking about tomorrow and Wednesday when, on the campus of Princeton University, I'll be one of 15 judges for the web site category of the CASE Circle of Excellence Awards.

So what makes a good web site? I did a quick search of the CASE site and found the 2007 Judges Report for the Web Site category. I found this section to be good preparation:

What makes an award-winning institutional Web site? We asked ourselves that question before we began viewing the sites. Here are some important elements:

• a sound strategy
• sound information architecture, navigability and usability and good search
• content developed for the site and deployed effectively across the site
• effective management
• distinctive or appropriate design—the look and feel of the site
• technology used on the site and adherence to standards
• evaluation plan—and results
• strong institutional identity that is consistent deep into the site

By the way . . . the Amtrak website, though not a CASE entry, satisfied many of the elements above and oriented me for my first train ride in 27 years.

posted by Susan Evans