Bill quotes a study that says, “In just a brief one-twentieth of a second–less than half the time it takes to blink–people make aesthetic judgments that influence the rest of their experience with an Internet site.”  I agree with him that this is taking “style over substance” to an extreme.However, I think some criticism of websites is warranted.  For instance, there’s something ironic about a site that touts Peoria’s scientific and technological expertise, yet can’t get their own website updated.

I looked up the website for PeoriaNEXT, “a not-for-profit regional development and commercialization collaborative for science and technology,” and found it interesting that Kay Royster is not only on their Board of Directors, but is still the Superintendent of Peoria Public Schools District 150! 

Now, I understand how hard it is to keep a website up to date.  Almost as soon as you put information out, it’s out of date.  For instance, elsewhere on the site they tout District 150’s various academies.  Those were just cut by the school board, so technically, that information is also out of date.  But I don’t blame them for not having that changed yet — that just happened within the last couple of months!  

But Kay Royster was ousted in 2004.  When I see a site that’s more than a year out of date, I assume it’s been abandoned.  I wonder if PeoriaNEXT is still operating.