Guys, check out http://www.babcockuni.edu.ng i think its the best nigerian university website. let me knw what you think about the site, and if you have a better site, drop the link

boraddo,

so is your conclusion based on bias or the fact (emphasis on '"fact" that you have visited every single naija university website out there? Just askin' I personally haven't been to all naija university sites, but I prefer this one to yours: http://www.abti-american.edu.ng/ - simple and plain-looking but straight to the point.

Anyway, the site looks okay, although it is a little heavy (the random header image you spit out, underneath the top nav is a whopping 57K). Other observations:

- Your nav section isn't consistent across the site (compare http://alumni.babcockuni.edu.ng/ to http://www.babcockuni.edu.ng/)

- When the nav section is consistent, the secondary nav (look at: http://www.babcockuni.edu.ng/inner.cfm?bu=90&menu=shw) is so long that it pushes down the primary nav. Even if this is intentional, it doesn't look good.

My company, among others, can give you a detailed site audit. You may contact me for more details. The above 3 are just to get your feet wet

Overall, nice job sha. Keep it up!

try unibenportal

chydon,

hv u checked this site in firefox? just wondering

@my2cents
from what i can see in the abti-american site, i guess the site is largely static. that shouldnt be compared with the obviously 'over-dynamic' babcock website. Moreso, this guys used coldfusion which is a relatively rare language in the nigerian developer community. i think the sites http://www.babcockuni.edu.ng and http://alumni.babcockuni.edu.ng are different from each other, thus the reason for the change in navigation style. . .  and as you may have noticed, the theme was also different.

@chydon
unibenportal isnt a 'website'. it's simply a portal for the university students to do their stuff, obviously. Moreso, a lot of features are inactive on that stuff.

naijafan,

static or dynamic, a website is the same, from a design standpoint. Without having to speak for the guy (though I am pretty sure that is what he meant ), when he said "best website", he wasn't referring to the use of a "relatively rare language in the nigerian developer community". Una naija atimes too dey like create effects with big grammar. I think he was speaking from a design standpoint and the features the site offers. In this case, it doesnt matter if you use HTML or JSP. Why? 'cause in the end, the browser will present html code and not say, coldfusion.

As for the 2 "different" websites, take a look at what is after the first "." - babcockuni.edu.ng. Web standards/design patterns dictate that navigation be the same throughout an entire site so as not to confuse the user. I say this not based on what I think but based on research. If the site was going to be different, then the user should be notified that they are leaving the original site and gointo to another one. Again, I speak based on facts.

Coming to think of it, and I am going out on a limb here, based on the photo on your profile page, it appears you attended or are attending this institution. Do I sense some bias in your comments as well?

But wetin I sabi? Just my 2 cents

@my 2 cents ,

i must confess, you're really really really observant, nice one. but i actually checked out all the sites on this link http://www.nigeriagalleria.com/Educational/Universities/ before coming to my conclusion. and when i say "best website" i mean design , functionality and quality of information (in that order) . i agree that abti has a nice design, but im sure you'll agree with me that when it comes to appropriateness (as an educational website ) we'll give it to babcock. , a committee has been set up to look into your observations .

does ur website audit compay have a url we can look at?? .

LOL boraddo,

Thanks for at least clarifying yourself and vindicating me with respect to naijafan's comments (based on how you ranked your categorization of what you meant by "best site" I have indeed checked at random 5 sites and yours comes up a winner, at least amongst public universities. Kudos

As for being the observant type, that is what I am paid to do. Company website? Currently down but I am working on it as we speak. Should be back up by the end of the week. I will post comments here to that effect. For now, you may learn more about me as a professional here - http://www.geocities.com/myibibio/bios/akpaniquot.html

Finally, thanks for the link to all the naija university websites. I have googled the hell out of my fingers looking for such a site. In the end, we both have learnt something new today. At least, I know I have

@my2cents
do answers.yahoo.com and mail.yahoo.com have a lot in common? i dont think so. moreover, its should be obvious to anyone that they are nw on the alumni portal. . except for the random images in the header . yahoo is the ranked the number one site in the world despite the fact that they disobey your web standards/design patterns. . . i speak based on facts !

hmmm, naijafan, you're making me wonder whether or not college is for u.

1)

yahoo is the ranked the number one site in the world despite the fact that they disobey your web standards/design patterns. . . i speak based on facts

Ignoring the hideous grammar, ever heard of google?

2) What is obvious to you may not be obvious to Okoro. You can't code a site based on what is obvious to you. Just because say, yahoo may violate web standards (note: they are not mine but those of others smarter than myself who came together to set these up for the common good ), shdnt be an excuse for you to do same. 2 wrongs don't make a right. Besides, what are the chances of babcock's website being as popular as yahoo's? I can almost guarantee you it's pretty slim.

wow, i wonder how long it took you to come up with your "I speak based on facts" "research"

i dont understand when guys on nairaland still dont know what and how to post comments. that guy wanted us to know he did the Babcock site, making it the best was way over blown, oya now this is the Best niversity site in the world http://www.covenantuniversity.com/ lemme see who hs someting better than this is Nigeria,

@my2cents ,
na fight ?? abe take it easy on naijafan. i think what he meant on the yahoo issue is that the web not as theoretical as you made it sound.( i agree with him) and to prove that, he mentioned yahoo., try to do a css check on google and see how many errors it will return.
my point
the goal of every website should be to delight the user, and not rigidly follow laid out plans. (although some of those rules were designed to delight the user) finally, please do me a favor, dont yapp me in ur reply.

@timmy,
no vex, but its my opinion, i've checked convenant site, but i still maintain that babcockuni.edu.ng is the best website in nigeria, one more time, no vex.

boraddo,

no b fight o! To answer your question about google:

1) 2 wrongs don't make a right

2) We both know your university site won't get the traffic that google does, so don't use that as an excuse.

No b "yapp". If you call me calling you, or whomever, out on trying to present personal bias as facts, then "yapp" it is. Google/yahoo bad code shdnt be an excuse for you to do same. If I interviewed with them, I would tell them where to improve upon their site. Standards are created for a reason. In the end, they are to be followed, but not necessarily adhered to. So, it's your call.

Every goal may be to delight the user, but which part of what i have said so far is a "laid out plan"? Again, not plans, but standards and I didn't write them, so don't shoot the messenger. Many sites out there "delight the user" but due to not following "laid out plans", for example, the site doesn't show up properly across both browsers. Check out www.akwaibomstategov.com in both IE and FF to verify what I am saying. The site may delight IE users but not me the "rigid" FF user.

Sorry if my attempts to help you are falling on deaf ears. As they say, some pple don't need help. I should have figured this out the minute I discovered that both you and naijafan attend/have attended the same school. Either way, and I will say this for the umpteenth time, I won't quietly sit back and let someone get away with spewing crap.

I think the ABTI Website is the Best

Oracle,

no mind dem. I would have said so myself, but as naijafan said, I shd hv noticed that abti was a "largely static" site and has boraddo said, saying so would imply that the whole world shd follow my "rigidly" "laid out plans" LOL

my2cents,

i must confess you dissapointed me with your last attack on me cos i didnt mean it that way at all. the inclusion of the word 'the' before 'ranked' in my last post was obviously a typo and an oversight. i dont think you should have tried capitalizing on that for your diss, moreso as my two previous posts didnt hav anything like that.

well, coming to your other comments; my 'facts' were based on what was visible, not some set of rules. . . apart from css check errors on google, is it normal for a site to have its homepage completely devoid of text?! no website existing today can base their success on following rules.

for instance, i understand you work with autotrader.com. this is a site i admire but despite the fact that the doctype reads 'xhtml 1.0 transitional', it isnt xhtml at all. yet, ignoring the fact that its not standards compliant, i still like the site. moreso, the design of the toplinks changes once you get into some pages in the site. is that your own definition of consistency?

for your information, babcock's website isnt planning to be as popular as yahoo simply cos of its target audience. mentioning that in your post is pointless. expect a mail from me very soon as we have to discuss somethings concerning autotrader. i'm supposed to do something like that down here.

cheers.

naijafan,

for instance, i understand you work with autotrader.com. this is a site i admire but despite the fact that the doctype reads 'xhtml 1.0 transitional', it isnt xhtml at all. yet, ignoring the fact that its not standards compliant, i still like the site. moreso, the design of the toplinks changes once you get into some pages in the site. is that your own definition of consistency?

Very good research

1) the site isn't standards compliant mostly because of the use of "&" in it's urls. Currently, we are looking into ways we can encode this character so as to get rid of this CSS warning

2) When I interviewed with them initially, I informed them of their many errors (among which include use of inline styles on the page, which unnecessarily bogs it down weight-wise). I was assured it would be looked into, but 3 years in, I guess it's not a priority. There are 25 of us working in the UI department and fortunately or unfortunately, I am not on the team assigned to the home page. Could it be better? Sure it can. However, it's not my company, so I don't call the shots. I guess when you are a $500million per annum company, whether or not your site is standards-compliant isn't your #1 priority.

You may have got it twisted thinking that I run the company and/or can make cowboy decisions on the fly

3) I don't understand what u mean by "top links". Do expound please

4) Dissapointed? Sorry about that bro. I am not into this to seek anyone's favors. I say what I say, again based on facts and experience and realize that I will ruffle a few feathers along the way. However, for the sake of unity on this forum, if you felt offended, sorry

5) make a site like autotrader? hmmm, as i said before, I don't own the company. There are many business rules that even I don't understand after 3 years. Though, I can work with you on a contractor basis, which of course will cost you

my2cents

lol, you're not like your friend, ikezi at all. he wouldnt ask for payment. . . at least not before things start happening. when i saw UI enginneer, i thought u were one of the top guys behind the presentation side of the site. my bad. cheers.

ps. searching on autotrader should not require me entering a zip code if i specify 'any distance' as it makes no difference. just suggessting tho.

Hey All,

Recently OAU became the leading ICT university in Nigeria. This was not for joke!

Check out http://www.oauife.edu.ng and see the level of work done on the portal.

You may also want to visit http://eportal.oauife.edu.ng and have a feel of the under-graduate portal

Ever wonder the level of development work that has gone into the post-graduate portal on http://netque.oauife.edu.ng/ ?

Look without any bias it is crystal clear that the various OAU Enterprise Portals has no match as far as Nigerian University Portals is concerned.

Your comments ?

bellars,

I wanted to check out the site, I really did, but it was taking too long to load (and I use a T1 connection). It even crashed the website analyzer that I use at work. 156K for a flash clip? Say it ain't so.

Will probably check it later.

my2cents. . . hope ours didnt crash the website analyser sha?

naijafan,

When you do start working for a corporate entity, one thing you will have to learn is the ability to be humble and bite your lip - it may not make sense to you not to have to enter a zip code when search for "any distance", but to the head honchos, it does.

My opinion (because I know you will ask)? it makes total sense. Not all zip codes are heavily populated. Some may have as little as 300 people living within in that vicinity. So, there may or may not be a dealer/private seller within 10, 20 or even 30 miles of where that person lives. Believe it or not, there are still parts of the US where people use a horse to travel 10 miles to school. If you doubt me, read up on South and North Dakota.

I hope this helps, and, who is Ikez? My "investigation" has turned up some important info - u were on the "4 man team" to develop the babcock website. I knew it!! I can smell such stuff 10 miles away

By the way, I am a UI engineer though again, not by a stretch one of the "top" ones. I don't work on the home page, but on the "Find Your Car" section (new layout launches on January 9th, so check it out when it does ) and the dealer community section (a section only registered dealers see). FYI: most all of us honest ones here at work agree that the home page is nothing to write home about, but again, we don't call the shots

Finally, so you don't start licking your lips like a hungry hyena the minute you see the section I am on (because I know you will ), I am not a designer, but a developer. There is a huge difference. I don't create graphics. I essentially take what a designer comes up with in, say, photoshop, cut it up and use those images, and in combination with my JSP coded, display stuff on a page accordingly. I am not, have never, and will never be a designer (not that there's anything wrong with being one )

my2cents:

Oracle,

no mind them. I would have said so myself, but as naijafan said, I should hv noticed that abti was a "largely static" site and has boraddo said, saying so would imply that the whole world should follow my "rigidly" "laid out plans" LOL

my2cents,
dont get me wrong , i really appreciate ur comments and as a matter of fact, those random images u thot we spat out have been properly optimised (as low as 14k now. the largest is 25.5kb). thanks for pointing those issues out.

boraddo,

Alas, my website is up and running: www.webmastersofafrica.com . Sorry for the delay. I have been veeery busy at work lately. Check it out, register and let me know what you think.

p.s.: Naijafan, E jo, no "Yapp" me o!

@my2cents,
seen the WOA site, i appreciate the initiative. but abeg, how can i edit my profilealso, the poll takes me to an eexternal link wit no link back. will drop more comments later. but all in all, thumbs up!

boraddo,

Thanks for your input. I never had the "edit profile" thing in mind, but now I do . I will put it in V2.0 Once again, thanks for the input. For now, if there is anything you want added to the site (I hv rcvd 3 such requests from 3 different individuals for the exact same thing ), YIM me at udotot25 (faster and recommended) or email me at webmaster@webmastersofafrica.com and I will update it ASAP.

The poll is indeed an external call. I will update the site to make sure it opens in a new window. That way, u still hv WOA open at all times.

Once again, thanks for the input. If you register (I assume you have already ), I will let you and all registered members know when the "edit profile" feature is open for business.

Once again, thanks for your compliments and input. The latter is well noted.

my2cents
your analyser is as good as bad
oau has got the tappest, tightest site. go get a better annalyser!

hischoice,

"My analyzer" isn't actually mine. It is a highly respected analyser site (www.weboptimization.com) which millions visit daily.

after refreshing my browser at least 10 times, I get the following:

http://www.oauife.edu.ng/
The connection has timed out

The server at www.oauife.edu.ng is taking too long to respond.

* The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few
moments.

* If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network
connection.

* If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure
that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.