NASA boldly redesigns web site for 2005

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It wasn’t until 2011 that the behemoth toymaker LEGO acknowledged girls’ desire to build with bricks, even though the company had long before made a seemingly effortless pivot to co-branding, video games, and major motion pictures. So it’s little wonder that girls face all-too-real obstacles when <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2014/03/05/gender-role-literacy-girls-in-science/">[…]</a></p> <a class="more" href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2014/03/05/gender-role-literacy-girls-in-science/">Read more</a> </article> <article class="post"> <div class="article-footer"> <time datetime="2013">9 Dec 2013</time> <h4><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/12/09/challenges-of-crowdsourcing-analysis-of-historypin/">Challenges of crowdsourcing: Analysis of Historypin</a></h4> </div> <p>Crowdsourcing can build virtual community, engage the public, and build large knowledge databases about science and culture. But what does it take, and how fast can you grow? For some insight, we look at a crowdsourced history site: Historypin is an appealing database of historical photos, with dates, locations, captions, and other metadata. It’s called History <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/12/09/challenges-of-crowdsourcing-analysis-of-historypin/">[…]</a></p> <a class="more" href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/12/09/challenges-of-crowdsourcing-analysis-of-historypin/">Read more</a> </article> <article class="post"> <div class="article-footer"> <time datetime="2013">18 Nov 2013</time> <h4><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/11/18/dinovember-creative-literacy-starts-young/">Dinovember: Creative literacy starts young</a></h4> </div> <p>“Uh-oh,” Refe Tuma heard his girls whisper. “Mom and Dad are not going to like this.” It’s Dinovember, and his family’s plastic dinosaurs have been getting into mischief all month. Every year, Tuma and his wife devote the month of November to “convincing our children that, while they sleep, their plastic dinosaur figures come to life. Related <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/11/18/dinovember-creative-literacy-starts-young/">[…]</a></p> <a class="more" href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/11/18/dinovember-creative-literacy-starts-young/">Read more</a> </article> </section> </div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <main role="main" id="main"><div id="twocolumns"> <div class="container"> <h1>NASA boldly redesigns web site for 2005</h1> <div class="twocolumns-holder"> <section id="content" class="about-holder img-posts"> <article class="post"> <p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-4196" alt="NASA Logo" src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-11.01.24-AM.png" width="124" height="111" />NASA redesigned <a href="http://www.nasa.gov">their web site</a>, with a magnificent failure of design by committee. It is a failure of content (eliminated the most interesting details about the science and engineering), a failure of organization (poorly consolidated types of content, such as multimedia and interactive features), and failure of implementation (site does not resize for small-screen smart phones, and failed to make popup menus work correctly on tablets).<span id="more-4190"></span></p> <p>Here’s the new home page:</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4191" alt="New NASA Web Site" src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.28.03-AM-545x459.png" width="545" height="459" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.28.03-AM-545x459.png 545w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.28.03-AM-150x126.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.28.03-AM-240x202.png 240w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.28.03-AM.png 1025w" sizes="(max-width: 545px) 100vw, 545px" /></p> <p>The link “For students” doesn’t go to a page with information for young minds who dream of space and exploration — rather, it links to a promo of a high-level NASA bureaucrat Leland Melvin receiving an award. Meanwhile, they eliminated the kinds of dreamy topics (space station, solar system, beyond earth) which were directly linked from the old home page.</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4192" alt="Screen Shot 2013-07-01 at 10.41.14 AM" src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.41.14-AM-545x336.png" width="545" height="336" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.41.14-AM-545x336.png 545w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.41.14-AM-150x92.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.41.14-AM-240x148.png 240w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.41.14-AM.png 672w" sizes="(max-width: 545px) 100vw, 545px" /></p> <p>Leland looks interesting, and it’s good that NASA is featuring smart black professionals on their site, but this particular story about Leland is hardly going to excite a 13 year old kid on summer break who happens to surf the NASA site.</p> <p>Another important failure is the false differentiation of types of content based on specifications of the department which produces them. At the same time that leading web sites like Facebook and Twitter, as well as major news outlets, are blurring the lines between text, photos, short and long videos, and audio content, NASA is taking a step backward under the delusion that the public thinks “images,” “multimedia,” and “sciencecasts” are different things, or cares:</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4193" alt="Images and multimedia" src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.43.23-AM-545x282.png" width="545" height="282" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.43.23-AM-545x282.png 545w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.43.23-AM-150x77.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.43.23-AM-240x124.png 240w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.43.23-AM.png 721w" sizes="(max-width: 545px) 100vw, 545px" /></p> <p>Meanwhile, lead screen real estate is given to “events”, which links to a calendar filled with empty months, and uninformative events metadata. These are not even real events, like Google+ hangouts with top scientists and former astronauts: They are merely anniversaries, such as the anniversary of the Mars Rover launch of 2003.</p> <p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-4194" alt="Month of NASA Events" src="http://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.47.47-AM-545x269.png" width="545" height="269" srcset="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.47.47-AM-545x269.png 545w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.47.47-AM-150x74.png 150w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.47.47-AM-240x118.png 240w, https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Screen-Shot-2013-07-01-at-10.47.47-AM.png 990w" sizes="(max-width: 545px) 100vw, 545px" /></p> <p>All in all, the new NASA site is a hugely missed opportunity to inspire and inform the public, as well as serve the multitude of stakeholders. It was obviously designed from a hugely introverted view of internal departments and procedures. It also may reflect the poor use of surveys to plan a site redesign. For example, survey respondents might say they want “images” and “multimedia” on the new site, but that does not mean the site should be designed using those particular navigational labels.</p> <p>They make a nice attempt, but incomplete, to substantially integrate with various social media channels. The problem is that social media should be more pervasively integrated, and not put in silos which are linked away. Blogs are arbitrarily differentiated from news releases. Audio podcasts are arbitrarily differentiated from other multimedia. And mobile is still an afterthought in the underfunded, underdeveloped, NASA slideshow apps.</p> <p>Some other federal goverment web sites are doing better. The <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov">White House</a>, recently redesigned <a href="http://www.weather.gov">Weather</a> (NOAA), and <a href="http://www.census.gov/">Census Bureau</a> are among the best. Maybe NASA can do better too.</p> <div class='yarpp-related'> <h3>Related posts:</h3><ol> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2006/05/02/difficulty-of-navigation/" rel="bookmark" title="Difficulty of navigation">Difficulty of navigation </a> <small>Organizing content into a logical system makes your site easier to navigate. Pointing users in the right direction...</small></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2006/05/02/site-difficult-to-update/" rel="bookmark" title="Site difficult to update">Site difficult to update </a> <small>Implementing a web-based content management system helps keep your site fresh. Since we are not all born technical...</small></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2011/08/29/nasa-partners-with-community-lego-event-for-community-outreach/" rel="bookmark" title="NASA partners with community LEGO event for community outreach">NASA partners with community LEGO event for community outreach </a> <small>A cheap and effective way to do community outreach is to piggyback or partner with existing events. NASA...</small></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2011/10/24/usability-and-user-experience-testing-options/" rel="bookmark" title="Usability and user experience testing options (vendor list)">Usability and user experience testing options (vendor list) </a> <small>What was once prohibitively complex and expensive can now be done inexpensively with online testing services. Testing will uncover...</small></li> <li><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2012/04/16/museums-still-ignoring-mobile-especially-small-museums/" rel="bookmark" title="Museums still ignoring mobile, especially small museums">Museums still ignoring mobile, especially small museums </a> <small>The vast majority of museums are totally ignoring mobile apps. At present, ~350 iPhone apps have been actually...</small></li> </ol> </div> </article> <section class="section comments" id="comments"> <h3>3 comments on <strong>NASA boldly redesigns web site for 2005</strong></h3> <div class="commentlist"> <div class="commentlist-item"> <div class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-2129"> <div class="commentlist-holder"> <a href='http://www.inqbation.com' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>Blake Newman</a> <p class="meta"><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/07/01/nasa-boldly-redesigns-web-site-for-2005/#comment-2129">02 Jul 2013, 10:31 am</a></p> <p>Obviously, they hired some technical contractor to get the job done instead of working with a real design team. Unfortunate waste of taxpayer dollars and total loss of focus on usability. For an agency that aims high and dreams big, it definitely dropped the ball on this one.</p> <p><a rel='nofollow' class='comment-reply-link' href='https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/07/01/nasa-boldly-redesigns-web-site-for-2005/?replytocom=2129#respond' onclick='return addComment.moveForm( "comment-2129", "2129", "respond", "4190" )' aria-label='Reply to Blake Newman'>Reply</a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="commentlist-item"> <div class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-2134"> <div class="commentlist-holder"> Guest <p class="meta"><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/07/01/nasa-boldly-redesigns-web-site-for-2005/#comment-2134">03 Jul 2013, 3:31 pm</a></p> <p>Read their post on the redesign: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/content/what-the-heck-happened-to-nasagov/#.UdR66fm1E1I" rel="nofollow"></a><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/content/what-the-heck-happene" rel="nofollow">http://www.nasa.gov/content/what-the-heck-happene</a>…. So they had a very short amount of time, transitioned the entire back end environment, and have lots of improvements still planned. So maybe withhold the strong critique and condemnation until they have a chance to get the full redesign completed. It's not like they rolled it out and said, "Ta da! You're welcome America!" </p> <p><a rel='nofollow' class='comment-reply-link' href='https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/07/01/nasa-boldly-redesigns-web-site-for-2005/?replytocom=2134#respond' onclick='return addComment.moveForm( "comment-2134", "2134", "respond", "4190" )' aria-label='Reply to Guest'>Reply</a></p> </div> </div> <div class="commentlist-item"> <div class="comment even depth-2" id="comment-2137"> <div class="commentlist-holder"> <a href='http://www.idea.org/blog' rel='external nofollow' class='url'>ideaorg</a> <p class="meta"><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/07/01/nasa-boldly-redesigns-web-site-for-2005/#comment-2137">04 Jul 2013, 5:34 pm</a></p> <p>Thanks for your comments. I read the post, but I still think the site redesign is a step backward, and I hope they seriously rethink many aspects of the site as part of the overhaul they promise is coming next year. </p> <p>While I commend NASA on the open-source content-management system, new content-delivery network and a new data center, upgrading infrastructure to be fast and reliable is a bare minimum requirement we can expect from a huge agency and is neither commendable nor is it news. </p> <p><a rel='nofollow' class='comment-reply-link' href='https://www.idea.org/blog/2013/07/01/nasa-boldly-redesigns-web-site-for-2005/?replytocom=2137#respond' onclick='return addComment.moveForm( "comment-2137", "2137", "respond", "4190" )' aria-label='Reply to ideaorg'>Reply</a></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> <section class="comment-respond"> <div id="respond" class="comment-respond"> <h3 id="reply-title" class="comment-reply-title">Leave a Reply <small><a rel="nofollow" id="cancel-comment-reply-link" href="/blog/2013/07/01/nasa-boldly-redesigns-web-site-for-2005/#respond" style="display:none;">Cancel reply</a></small></h3> <form action="https://www.idea.org/blog/wp-comments-post.php" method="post" id="commentform" class="comment-form"> <p class="comment-notes"><span id="email-notes">Your email address will not be published.</span> Required fields are marked <span class="required">*</span></p><p class="comment-form-author"><label for="author">Name <span class="required">*</span></label> <input id="author" name="author" type="text" value="" size="30" maxlength="245" required='required' /></p> <p class="comment-form-email"><label for="email">Email <span class="required">*</span></label> <input id="email" name="email" type="text" value="" size="30" maxlength="100" aria-describedby="email-notes" required='required' /></p> <p class="comment-form-url"><label for="url">Website</label> <input id="url" name="url" type="text" value="" size="30" maxlength="200" /></p> <p class="comment-form-comment"><label for="comment">Comment</label> <textarea id="comment" name="comment" cols="45" rows="8" maxlength="65525" required="required"></textarea></p><p class="form-submit"><input name="submit" type="submit" id="submit" class="submit" value="Post Comment" /> <input type='hidden' name='comment_post_ID' value='4190' id='comment_post_ID' /> <input type='hidden' name='comment_parent' id='comment_parent' value='0' /> </p><p style="display: none;"><input type="hidden" id="akismet_comment_nonce" name="akismet_comment_nonce" value="5d58b720c6" /></p><p style="display: none;"><input type="hidden" id="ak_js" name="ak_js" value="206"/></p> </form> </div> </section> </section> <aside id="sidebar"> <section class="widget inner-text"> <h3>Related posts</h3> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2006/05/02/difficulty-of-navigation/">Difficulty of navigation<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <p>Organizing content into a logical system makes your site easier to navigate. Pointing users in the right direction is critical to delivering relevant information to users. This signpost from the M*A*S*H television series let the 4077th know which way was home. Problem Your website is difficult for users to navigate, making it next to impossible <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2006/05/02/difficulty-of-navigation/">[…]</a></p> </article> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2006/05/02/site-difficult-to-update/">Site difficult to update<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <p>Implementing a web-based content management system helps keep your site fresh. Since we are not all born technical geniuses, we often rely on other to update our sites… a recipe for stagnation and delay. Problem It’s so difficult to update web content that the site becomes stale and visitors don’t return. 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Related posts: What is strategic <a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2011/08/29/nasa-partners-with-community-lego-event-for-community-outreach/">[…]</a></p> </article> <article class="post"> <h2><a href="https://www.idea.org/blog/2011/10/24/usability-and-user-experience-testing-options/">Usability and user experience testing options (vendor list)<i class="icon-arrow-right-alt1"></i></a></h2> <p>What was once prohibitively complex and expensive can now be done inexpensively with online testing services. Testing will uncover problems that are confusing for your audience. Here’s a list of vendors to start your research process, and some suggestions. 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NASA boldly redesigns web site for 2005 – IDEA