Website Evaluation

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing today to talk with you about your website, Rape Crisis Information Pathfinder, (www.ibiblio.org/rcip/), UNC Chapel Hill, NC. Thank you for your encouragement and care to survivors of rape and sexual assault. It is obvious to me that you care and have empathy for survivors of sexual assault, simply by the number of resources and links you have provided. However, I would like to propose to you a couple of suggestions to enable your reader easier access to your wonderful material.

Looking at the website, I notice that you are providing lots of great information on how to heal from the trauma of rape and sexual assault, emergency hotline phone numbers, message boards, and research areas. All of this information is needed, but could be very overwhelming when looking at all this information on one page. It is difficult to locate specific information, especially if someone is in a hurry.

If I could suggest the use of tabs or link buttons placed across the top of the page with your general topics (RESEARCH, EMERGENCY, HEALTH and DIVERSITY) in a priority; perhaps aligning them from most important to your reader (EMERGENCY) to least important (RESEARCH). Each of those links can be broken down into separate pages, with other information provided. Not only does this clean up the page, but groups all relevant information together.

The colors you have chosen for your website are great. They are very relaxing and inviting. I would suggest that the font size be enlarged for those readers that may have a hard time reading small print. I would also use a larger size and bold font for the headings. Those will “pop” off the page to your readers. It is important to keep the style of font the same and consistent across the entire website, but it is okay to change the size for emphasis. The artwork you have is beautiful and relevant. It is inviting and gives me a feeling of hope.

I love that you have a button for clearing out your computer’s history. Coming to your website for many can be very scary especially if the perpetrator is in the same house or room. It might be beneficial to have an “Escape” button as well. This button serves as a “false page” that will enable someone to click and be taken to what looks like a Google or Yahoo search page. This button works for someone who’s on the site and their perpetrator comes into the room and they don’t want them seeing what they are looking at. This could possibly protect someone from further harm. Give them an out, so to speak.

Thank you for taking the time to read my email. I hope you will take into consideration some of the suggestions I have provided for making your website a little easier for your readers. Please feel free to email me with questions or concerns. Again, you have a wonderful website full of great information for survivors of rape and sexual assault. You advocate several times that it is not the victims fault; the fault lies with the perpetrator. I am no expert in the area of sexual assault, but I have been working with survivors for over 5years. I plan on giving the survivors I may come in contact with in the future this link as additional resources for their healing.

Yours in Advocacy,