Letter to NFMHS

// Sent to VincentVJ@LeeSchools.net about http://nfm.leeschools.net/north/index.html
Hello,

I happened to stop by the NFMHS website today, looking to see if there was an Alumni section (me and a friend were discussing N-year reunions, where N = 5, 10, 20, ... ) and I have to say I was surprised to see the website redesigned.

I guess retro is "in" this year?

From the red-to-white gradients for all of the website navigation buttons, to the white text on light gray background, to the inconsistent spacing between the top image and the navigation table, to the background image that doesn't scale well on larger screen resolutions (well-known-fact: there's a CSS feature called background-size), I was blown away by how poor the design was.

The fact that the "The Arts" section lists Web Design is also probably a public health risk: lethal doses of irony.

What happened? This new website makes me sad. I know Mr. Brian Curls was a superb web designer (in spite of his color blindness), and my friends (whom are also Alumni) attest to the competence of Mr. Daly. Surely, if you are still offering courses in Web Design, the teacher in charge of that curriculum can do better. Did a wave of bubonic plague sweep through the technology department?

When I was a student, there were freshmen who could have done a better job than the current website. If your budget bears too many lacerations, maybe consider running a contest? Or starting a club and giving them the "honor" of improving the website (something to stick on their college applications)?
These are just ideas. I hope you read this email and pass it on to the people who can make a difference. If you have no other options, you can always hire me. In addition to knowing how to design a legible web page, I can also build full-blown (and very secure) web applications.

Thank you for the time you spent reading this email,
Scott
Class of 2008