We just launched a new search.ou.edu. Christian Colon, The Mad Scientist of Web Development, did all of the back-end work while yours truly did the design and CSS presentation. Im happy with the way it turned out.

It uses the same layout and most of the same design elements as the new ou.edu, with a secondary color palette. Since the search is closely associated with the OU home page, we thought it was important to share a similar layout.

I think the layout is intuitive. the tabs allow an easy way to get you in the right place. When the data is displayed, the alternating row colors break up the information into nice digestible byte-sized chunks (HA! get it? byte…)

Speaking of Data, the new search has some strange things going on that I know can be more intuitive. There are some basic issues that we will resolve in the next release.

This is a perfect example of how the Data and Design need to be solid to create usability harmony. For example, the phone numbers listed are 4 digits. Anyone know what happens when you dial only 4 digits?

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NOTHING! absolutely nothing…

Most of the OU Faculty and Staff know that the 4 digit number needs to have a “325″ in front of it, so it works. The rest of the folks in the world just think there is some new 4 digit phone number system in place at OU… We have plans to put “All numbers begin with {325} unless otherwise listed.” on the page but wouldnt it be easiler to list the entire number? Good example of how data can kill usabilty.

There are a few minor tweaks that need to happen, but I think it is a huge step in the right direction. Im going to begin work on oZONE, the new ou student portal! So, ill have a lot to talk about when that is done