KSTP maintains several resource sites highlighting specific areas in the Twin Cities. The layout on these sites is quite different than their main site, so we chose their University of Minnesota site to run through the initial feedback test to see how people responded to it. Here’s what the site looked like at the time of the test:

What Does This Website Do?

  1. The website provides information and links about Minneapolis schools, politics, people, communities, businesses and more.
  2. This appears to be a news site for the University of Minnesota and KSTP television. It displays upcoming events and some news stories.
  3. It’s a site that is specific to the University of MN. It includes relevant articles about what’s happening in the area.
  4. It seems to be the homepage of the University of MN. It provides local news, features events and local businesses, also a forum and classified ads, I presume for the students, but those are still empty.
  5. The website is a news source for the area around the University of Minnesota.
  6. It is a community web site for Minneapolis city. It contains all the latest news, events, business, real estate and a lot more about Minneapolis city.
  7. This is a the University of Minnesota local news portal.
  8. It looks like this website is developed to provide an overview of the news in the Minneapolis/University of Minnesota area. It also has sections to learn more about the area and to form a community of people.
  9. It is a news site that has lots of information for those who live in MN. It appears to be run by the university.
  10. It is a community website about the University of Minnesota, providing news, classifieds, interaction and information.

In general, the reviewers understand the purpose of the website.

Best Current Feature

  1. If I had to pick something good about this, and I am sorry, but there is nothing here that I would call the “best feature”, I guess it would be the listing on the left side of community resources. Even when I clicked on the Community pics, there are NO good pictures.
  2. I like the use of white space. It doesn’t look crowded, and I can get to where I want to easily.
  3. The website seems to be fairly new and some of the categories have no entries yet. Hence, as it is the best feature is I think the local news, including information on upcoming events. This could be expanded.
  4. I like the way main stories are organized down the center of the page. It makes them very accessible.
  5. It contains all the information required for Minneapolis residents.
  6. The local classifieds; college students are always looking for a good deal.
  7. I like the current news, but also like the fact that you can look for news stories by more specific categories.
  8. It has a live stream from twitter so you don’t have to subscribe and/or go to another page to see the tweets.
  9. The best feature to me are the news bits, presented in blog style. They draw attention and are easy on the eyes. I liked that they are separated from one another by blocks, and the structure of headline, picture and a short body of text.
  10. The best current feature according to me is the use of Twitter and Facebook. These are the most widely used social networking sites and would help a lot in terms of spreading important news.

The site is pretty new and some of the reviewers have noted that not all categories have content yet, but most of them seem to agree that the news is the focus, and the format is easily readable. Their use of social networking sites is also a bonus.

The layout and theme didn’t really attract a lot of attention from the reviewers when they were looking for the best features. How about what they didn’t like?

One Thing To Improve

  1. Initially I did not know if the site was about a city or a college, the University photo confused me and the site does not have a large title indicating clearly what it is about.
  2. The page loaded slowly for me.
  3. I find the page a bit confusing, but that could be because I’m not local. Locals might not have a problem with it. For me, stumbling onto this web page it would be helpful to have a couple of sentences at the top, along the lines of “Hi, this is the homepage of … We want to provide … for … so that you can easily find … and etc etc” Just some kind of intro that catches the eye of a non-local visitor like myself and helps me to understand quickly where I am and what I can find here. Maybe also explain what is KSTP?
  4. I would change the heading from University of MN to University of Minnesota. It looks better.
  5. There aren’t many businesses or restaurants listed. There should also be column for sports.
  6. More local advertisers targeted to me as far as like apartment supplies or school supplies or food offers.
  7. I wish that the box that breaks the news out into separate categories was more visible. I didn’t see it on first look and was glad when I found it.
  8. There is a lot of information at the top, you have to scroll far down to see the news stories. some other way of organizing it may be better.
  9. The search field should be made more prominent, with a larger size and especially a larger text font.
  10. Probably making it more comprehensive. Providing a site map also would help extensively.

There’s a wide range of suggestions here, most of them small changes, but a couple of the reviewers were confused about what the site represented. Local residents and students of the University may be the primary target demographic, but it could serve as a good resource for potential visitors or people interested in attending the U and looking for related news, so making the distinction clearer could be very helpful.

The changes would be quick and easy, and once updated, the value of the suggestions could be tested through 3rd Party Feedback .