I don’t know why system developers tend to take a good (or at least passable / workable) system and make it completely unusable. It seems as though every time they’re tasked to create a new build, they sit down with a list of features and try to incorporate them into the new system without addressing the critical questions of — how do users generally access or use the information on the website, and how will the systems changes affect the overall usability of the interface?

Look, for example, at the new Georgetown University registration page. There are in general two main ways to use a schedule of classes: (1) search for a particular class (by name, subject, teacher, credits, class time, etc), or (2) browse though the list of classes to find the one(s) you’re looking for. Obviously the designers of the new system favored the former and decided give people who prefer the latter, myself included, the short end of the bargain. In the previous system, I liked being able to click on a department (JAPN, for example) from the list of departments on the schedule front page and view a list of all the classes in that department. Now, in order to get the same list you have to choose a department name from a select box (that only displays three course names at a time), then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the screen and click on “class search.” When the list comes up there’s no way to bookmark the results page (variables not contained in the URL).

On the other hand, I definitely approve of the ability to filter classes by instructor or class time — so the new build isn’t all negative. I just wish they’d left the ability to browse through classes as well.