New Syracuse Football app is available...

[SUinNYC]

I do this stuff for a living, and pretty disappointed. Coulda done a much better job (IMO). Offered, but was declined.

Agreed. I applaud the staff for the effort. I'm really glad that they did something like this. It's really important to be on the medium our recruits use.

BUT this app is appalling. Especially considering SU has the #1 communications school in the country. As a Newhouse grad myself, I would fire anyone who made this for one of my clients. The design and interface is inconsistent and confusing. The content is shallow at best and what is there is completely hidden. I really hope they make major improvements for version 2.0.

 

[jekelish]

So I just discovered a lot more content that is completely hidden...you have to swipe up or down or to the side, and there's no indication there are additional pages in each section. But there are more facilities pages for example. There's an entire virtual tour of the apartments, for instance, that you have to really search for. It's like a freaking Easter egg hunt.

 

[SUinNYC]

So I just discovered a lot more content that is completely hidden...you have to swipe up or down or to the side, and there's no indication there are additional pages in each section. But there are more facilities pages for example. There's an entire virtual tour of the apartments, for instance, that you have to really search for. It's like a freaking Easter egg hunt.

Izactly.

 

[Cuseman78]

So I just discovered a lot more content that is completely hidden...you have to swipe up or down or to the side, and there's no indication there are additional pages in each section. But there are more facilities pages for example. There's an entire virtual tour of the apartments, for instance, that you have to really search for. It's like a freaking Easter egg hunt.

Weird, I didn't find it confusing at all. The orange pull tabs were pretty obvious after about 10 seconds of navigating the site. Personally, I enjoyed my Easter egg hunt. Photography was reall well done, they hit on all the major points. Good recruiting tool. Not really an app for the fan anyways, it's clearly just a sales tool for prospective recruits looking into Syracuse.

 

[jekelish]

Weird, I didn't find it confusing at all. The orange pull tabs were pretty obvious after about 10 seconds of navigating the site. Personally, I enjoyed my Easter egg hunt. Photography was reall well done, they hit on all the major points. Good recruiting tool. Not really an app for the fan anyways, it's clearly just a sales tool for prospective recruits looking into Syracuse.

The orange pull tabs were easy to navigate. But there's no indication that there's more than just the main page in most sections. I actually like the app for what it is, but it would be nice if the additional pages were a little easier to find.

EDIT: I just realized there IS an indication...it's just small, on the bottom left of each page, there's a little grid of squares with the current page colored in orange and the rest white, which indicates the configuration and number of pages in that section. So it's there. I just didn't realize what it was at first.

 

[Orangeyes]

6 highlights after testing out the new Syracuse football iPad app

 

[Jeepers]

It's just...

The navigation is terrible. If you have to search for things, like it's easter eggs, it's not good UI. People are very finicky with a tablet. If things aren't easy, they will just close the app and never open it again. You really have to dumb it down. They have studies for this kinda stuff--like what gets clicked and what doesn't. People fly through a tablet app.

Then the content. There are so many potential assets for something like this. Years and years of photos and videos. Historic things. Rosters. I'd love to get my hands on all that kinda stuff and just go crazy. And it would be a blast to make. I'd bet whoever made this isn't a very big SU fan.

The design is super meh. The type treatment is hot garbage. Choosing fonts is probably my biggest weakness, but even I could do better. What's with all the drop shadows?

Just all around "good enough."

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Nike doesn't design uniforms for college football with grumpy old guys in mind.

Sorry, I don't love some of them either but it is what it is.

 

[Moontan]

I'd bet whoever made this isn't a very big SU fan.

The developers have produced similar apps for Georgia football and LSU football & baseball. I haven't checked those out yet to see how similar they are.

Hopefully this is just a first pass. One would expect an updates for the new uniforms as well as the IPF. Hopefully they'll add more historical data as well... bowl games, NFL players (and their achievements), etc..

It doesn't hurt to send ideas and constructive criticism to the powers that be.

 

[SUinNYC]

It doesn't hurt to send ideas and constructive criticism to the powers that be.

Good call. Thanks.

 

[MSOrange]

I normally don't criticize but I also found the navigation difficult when I first used it. I probably still haven't found all the stuff that is available.

 

[JSOrange97]

Thanks for the info. Is a Droid app expected soon?

Android app is crucial. Missing a large segment of potential fan base if only iPad.

 

[KaiserUEO]

couple things:

1: glad to see HCSS is using a picture of the team from Giants Stadium on his page. he clearly gets it and hopefully the idiot posters will soon.

and 2: how long before some numbnuts in the SUAD IT Dept puts the entire playbook on there???

 

[CuseLegacy]

Looks like they are using it for a recruiting tool. This kid is in Cypress Texas.

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  Jackson Solbeck ‏@jsoleochouno 9h
  And some mail from Syracuse as well pic.twitter.com/WFD327wcm3

 

[jekelish]

If they wanted a recruiting tool shouldn't they have made it an iphone app instead of an iPad app? I have to think a recruit is more likely to have an iphone than an iPad.

 

[Jeepers]

If they wanted a recruiting tool shouldn't they have made it an iphone app instead of an iPad app? I have to think a recruit is more likely to have an iphone than an iPad.

Good point. The way we do it, where I work, is template it around the iPad version. So, the same iPad design is used on the android, but with more white space on the top and bottom to accommodate for the different dimensions. Similarly, the iPhone is the same, but has zoom enabled so you can actually read things. Not ideal, but saves all that extra time designing specifically for the iPhone.