Comments on: A New Face for EPA http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2010/03/a-new-face-for-epa/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-new-face-for-epa EPA's Blog About Our World Fri, 17 May 2013 15:29:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Andreas Pazer http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2010/03/a-new-face-for-epa/comment-page-1/#comment-50963 Andreas Pazer Fri, 04 May 2012 09:17:24 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/blog/?p=1728#comment-50963 The huge banner is a real turnoff… i’m lucky enough to be using a desktop with an oversized monitor, but i’m curious as to how this layout will work on a laptop or a smartphone monitor? Has this been tested?

]]> By: Morgan http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2010/03/a-new-face-for-epa/comment-page-1/#comment-39678 Morgan Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:21:37 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/blog/?p=1728#comment-39678 It appears the consensus is that the website is terrific, and I concur with that opinion. This is one of the best government websites I have ever seen! Most websites that represent large organizations are waaaaaay too cluttered, which makes them extremely difficult to navigate. This site was well thought out, and making a selection of an interesting topic or a current news worthy feature, is easy as pie. My hat is off to the folks who designed the site. Terrific job!

]]> By: kinni144 http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2010/03/a-new-face-for-epa/comment-page-1/#comment-39520 kinni144 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 06:41:50 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/blog/?p=1728#comment-39520 I agree with Karen, alphabetizing might be good, and would also avoid the appearance that topics are listed in order of priority.
Good job!

]]> By: ian smalley http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2010/03/a-new-face-for-epa/comment-page-1/#comment-36458 ian smalley Tue, 02 Nov 2010 22:25:41 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/blog/?p=1728#comment-36458 great news! looking forward to seeing how the reorganization of the site will help with the ease of navigation. keep up the good work .

]]> By: Anonymous http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2010/03/a-new-face-for-epa/comment-page-1/#comment-33345 Anonymous Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:02:41 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/blog/?p=1728#comment-33345 As a Utah Graphic Designer who is studying sites for good designs, the new EPA site looks great.

How involved are they with the oil spill? I’m guessing it’s their main focus right now but there has to be other organizations who are also involved.

]]> By: alicia http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2010/03/a-new-face-for-epa/comment-page-1/#comment-33115 alicia Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:52:21 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/blog/?p=1728#comment-33115 I love this stuff free lance writer its so cool and nice, you must try this one!

]]> By: Mohamed http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2010/03/a-new-face-for-epa/comment-page-1/#comment-30250 Mohamed Mon, 03 May 2010 18:27:56 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/blog/?p=1728#comment-30250 It’s clean , but i see it will be much better if the typography enhanced more .
Mohamed

]]> By: Scott http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2010/03/a-new-face-for-epa/comment-page-1/#comment-28797 Scott Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:32:39 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/blog/?p=1728#comment-28797 Had to get one more comment in here and glad “Easy Safety School” has already mentioned it as well: the “dotted” text boxes in the photos are really heard to read. Perhaps go with a smoother, white/opaque look with black text instead.

]]> By: Hope http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2010/03/a-new-face-for-epa/comment-page-1/#comment-28784 Hope Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:27:25 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/blog/?p=1728#comment-28784 I commend your desire to make the home page more user friendly, but this design goes in the opposite direction. Having such huge banners with overlaid text is unnecessarily busy and poor design in general: it does not have the clean look you are aiming for and reduces legibility. Also, these large banners push much of the page below the fold. With so much information to convey, it’s counterintuitive to introduce an element that displaces so much text. In addition, the lack of any clean navigation is unnerving. As a layperson, I have no idea how to differentiate whether what I am looking for would be in “Learn the Issues” or “Science & Technology” or “Laws & Regulation”. I have to guess. Guessing is not navigation, and just adds more click-throughs and frustration for the user.

By having such stripped-down navigation, it appears that you’re just hoping the user goes to the Search box. Whether you are relying on the search box or not, the whole design could be much cleaner, have clearer navigation, and have less extraneous use of “pretty pictures”.

]]> By: CBD http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2010/03/a-new-face-for-epa/comment-page-1/#comment-28671 CBD Fri, 02 Apr 2010 02:42:56 +0000 http://blog.epa.gov/blog/?p=1728#comment-28671 I’m a regular user of the EPA web site, although I only occasionally come in via the front page. The new layout is great, much cleaner and simpler than the last one (which was also a great improvement). The simpler layout makes it easier to quickly scan and navigate.

A few specific comments:
- Fed sites are emphasizing “open gov” but I think that’s jargon that most people don’t recognize, thereby increasing the likelihood of users overlooking this important link. (And, “share your ideas” is only one aspect of the open site.)
- The large rotating images are popular, but on my laptop that’s almost 24% of my screenspace being used for very little content.
- EPA collects or houses vast amounts of environmental data, but the “data” link is buried and almost lost.
- The latest announcements and hot topics lists are easy to scan and useful.
- The A-Z topics link gets a little lost in the middle of the search/advancedsearch links.
- Thanks for keeping “my environment” visible.

As a regular user, I appreciate these improvements and hope to see similar improvements in other areas of the EPA’s vast online resources. I know a lot of work went into this! Thanks for posting it to the blog, too.

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