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Ask HN: Why are academic websites so bad?
Many syllabus website I see from top universities or university program webpages are plain HTML. Is there an underlying reason why these sites don't use a basic design template and refined layout?
- enkiv2 10y agoPlain HTML is preferable, if you don't need anything fancier. The real reason may be that universities hire students (who may or may not know anything about web design) to work on their main pages, and course pages are usually maintained by professors. However, ultimately, if you want your page to be accessible to people with crappy computers it makes sense to avoid the kind of bloated nonsense that passes for "good web design" these days.
- livatlantis 10y agoThat's one of the reasons I like 'em. And this is a designer talking! Sure, a nice simple base CSS could fix line width, letterspacing, general kerning... but I'd much rather take plain old HTML that I can access from pretty much any browser on any OS anywhere in the world, than the Javascript-fueled "immersive" websites laaaarge images and fancy effects anyday. Having said that, of course, I should concede that the choice isn't binary. Still.