Managing Lists of Text on a Webpage

Pages of text can be tough to work with.  Lists are very handy items.  Sometimes we can have issues when a client has a list that is a mile long.  As a website visitor, I know that it is hard to read, and in fact, more than likely it won't be read at all.  

Here is an example from a newly created site I published this week. The left side image is our before shot.  This is a list of faculty members that are approved to advise in the Centre for Environment and Sustainability at Western University.   That list is so long and really not user friendly. 

On the right side you can see where we broke the list in to more manageable pieces.  Students can now find their advisor by department first.  We also included links to each faculty member's biography page and email address.  This will help students that are in the selection process.

Managing your lists is a matter of discovering how web visitors are going to use the information.  In an academic setting, success is based on how many follow-up questions you get regarding the information presented.  If you design for your users, follow-up is only done for more advanced questions and not about the what they can't find on your page.

MVR Solutions is proud to have worked with over 20 different departments/units on over 30 Cascade migration projects with Western University.  The Centre for Environment and Sustainability project was completed on July 29, 2014.  View their newly created site here.