Star Assessment: 2 stars
ASSESSMENT:
• The Child & Adolescent Mental Health Division (CAMHD) website header and footer follows the basic template and colors of the current DOH Main site. The area between the header and footer is designed into blocks containing: a secondary navigation, a third navigation, a slideshow with eight slides (photos, graphics, messaging), video block, photos, copy and a fb feed. There is so much important information on the home page that each cancels out the other and the viewer can get overwhelmed. Overall the content is good/informative, but how it’s presented is not. There is no layout heirarchy in place and the space where the copy/content is is very small and limited. Although there is a heirarchy in the type—headers, subheaders, use of italics, bold and colored copy—the body copy is very small due to the limited space and the essential content is minimized.
• There are three navigations on the homepage which is also overwhelming. The secondary navigation seems to be the priority and stands out more than the top navigation bar. As you go through the site, some pages have four navigation menus.
• The CAMHD website has a lot of great messaging/graphics/photos, but because there is so much, it’s difficult to know which is most important.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Lessen the total number of navigations and consolidate into one main nav and a secondary nav.
• Simplify the overall layout and create a heirarchy for content and copy so the site is easier for the viewer to navigate through.
• Create a schedule for the slideshow and limit the slides to 3 or 4. Rather than showing everything all at one time, chunk the events/messages so it changes out every quarter.