Imagine that somewhere in the world there is a high school senior, and his name is Billy. He is shopping around for colleges, with mom and dad watching closely. He has pretty good grades coming out of High School, slightly above average test scores and a couple extracurricular activities. He likes computers and is pretty good with them, too. After applying to a few quality state and private schools, UD being on the more expensive side, he is admitted to all of them. Needing to come to a decision soon, he turns to the school's Web sites for guidance and information. So, when Billy logged onto UD's Web site and saw that navigation was unclear and that it was almost impossible to adequately perform a search, his impressions of the university decreased.

UD has focused so much on kicking the drinking school reputation that they have let other areas of the university slip in quality, the UD homepage being one of the most visible and apparent examples.

'But, Mike,' they will say, 'you can't judge a book by its cover, so you shouldn't judge a college by its Web site.' Hello? This is 2005! Excellent, clear Web sites are expected. Quality homepages are not just added bonuses that people think highly of when they see them. This was the case when the internet was still coming of age. It is a definite expectation now, especially from a private, expensive school.

I also realize that UD is not suffering from low enrollment, in fact the opposite is occurring. And, believe me, I have heard that the class of 2009 is the 'brightest' in UD history, whatever that means exactly. But, in any case, it is all about quality, not quantity. All we ever hear now is that this school wants to move up in national rankings. Well, you move up by having the complete package, not just 95 percent of it. Right now the UD homepage is holding the university back.

I think college is more like a vacation resort and its Web site like the resort's brochure. The tired 'book by its cover' adage does not apply here. If the hotel and pool of the resort look shady, they probably are. If the brochure is just one the resort had made in 1992 and simply continues to order each year, what can we expect about the quality of it? The same applies for a private university. What you see if often what you get.

I wouldn't write this if I did not find fault with it. UD is a much better place than is shown on the Web site. The 'virtual tour' portion of the Web site, which has a very large impact on a prospective student, is especially in need of improvement. Lets face it, kids do not want to go to an ugly school, and UD could look much better in a virtual tour than it does now.

Starting committees for things instead of addressing the problem, solving it and immediately implementing the solution seems to be very 'college.' I don't know if it's to make people feel important or what, but why stop now? A Web site committee would be a welcomed addition to the plethora of committees on campus. Maybe there already is one. In fact, there probably is. I don't doubt it. But I think they could be doing a better job advising those in charge to make the needed changes.