1. Competitive Analysis
By: Sean Filiatrault
INTE 122: Information Design
November 25, 2009

2. Table of Contents
Introduction
1
Audience
1
Criteria
2
Executive Summary
3
Page Layout
3
Small Multiples
4
Element Location Chart
5
Navigation
7
Navigation System Comparison Chart
8
Displaying Navigation
9
Content Features
14
Two by Two
18
Interactive Features
20
Carousel
20
WebMail
21
Video Player
23
Contact Form
24
Library Book Listings
25
Program/Course Search
29
Conclusions
32
References
36

3. Introduction
The purpose of this competitive analysis is to compare Capilano University’s website to the website’s of
three other major institutions to gain insight into the web presence of other prominent institutions. The
other colleges are Emily Carr University of Art & Design, Langara College, and Vancouver Film
School. The reason these three schools were selected was because they are all comparable to Capilano
University in either size or program type. They also have websites that were designed more recently &
tastefully and therefore should have many features or ideas that can be utilized by the Capilano website.
This report will identify best disappointments & best practices for each set of criteria at the end of
each section.
Audience:
The audience for this competitive analysis will be the Information Design Profession at Capilano University,
Jerome Valdez. There is also a slight change that the university staff with get the chance to view this
report as they continue to update the Capilano University website.
Comparative Analysis
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4. Criteria:
The analysis will be based on the following five criteria:
Page Layout
Navigation
• Main Navigations
• Secondary navigation & drop down menus
Content Features
• Carousels or primary content
• Secondary content
• Tertiary and lower level content
Interactive Features
• Carousels
• WebMail
• Video Players
• Contact form
• Library book lookup
Program/Course Search
• List
• Drop down menus
Comparative Analysis
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5. Executive Summary:
The purpose of this report was to analysis CapilanoU.ca’s competition to determine if there is anything
that can be learned from them, to see how Capilano University’s website stacks up against the
competition, and to come up with some “Best Practices”. Three competitors were selected, Emily Carr,
Langara College, and Vancouver Film School. Five criteria were chosen to base the analysis on, which are:
Page Layout, Navigation, Content Features, Interactive Features, and Program/Course Search. After going
through each stage a set of “Disappointments” and “Best Practices” were established to help guide the
redesign of Capilano University’s website. Once every section was complete the websites were all judged
on a scale of one to ten (one being the worst, ten being the best).
Capilano University Emily Carr Langara College Vancouver Film School
Page Layout
Navigation
Content Features
Interactive Features
Program Search
Overall
6/10 8/10 6/10 8/10
2/10 6/10 4/10 9/10
4/10 4/10 6/10 8/10
2/10 5/10 4/10 8/10
4/10 5/10 8/10 8/10
4/10 5/10 5/10 8/10
Page Layout
The following are the page layouts for the home pages of each institution researched. This general layout
contains information on only five areas so that as much data as possible is conveyed without making the
diagrams overly complex. The five areas selected are: Main Navigation, Sub Navigation & Footer,
Search Bar, Content, and Featured Content.
Comparative Analysis
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6. Emily CarrCapilano University
Vancouver Film SchoolLangara College
Legend
Main
Navigation
Featured
Content
Content
Search Bar
Sub Nav &
Footer

7. Element Location
Capilano University Emily Carr Langara College Vancouver Film
School
Content
MultiMedia
Primary
Navigation
Sub Navigation
WebMail Login
Program Search
Search Box
Contact
Information
Center of the page starting
from about 1/5 down the
page.
Bottom-left side of the page. Center of the page stretch to
the bottom.
Right side of the page;
takes up two-thirds of
space.
Five small images spread
through the home page.
Large image dominates home
page, galleries linked to from
home page.
Carousel on main page. Three carousels,
numerous images, main
navigation links to a
showcase for all of their
programs (11).
In the top-right and bottom-
center of the header.
Top-right beside the header. Top-right beside and
stretching into the carousel.
Top of page below
header.
Along the bottom-left of the
header as well as along the
left-hand side.
Drop down menus from the
main navigation and bottom-
right beside content features.
Center of the page below
carousel.
Drop down menus from
main navigation and
program listings on left
side of page.
Accessed from a hyperlink on
the Student/Faculty Login
page which is linked to from
the main page in the top-left
corner right before the header.
Linked to from home page in
the bottom-right sub
navigation.
Center-right beside sub
navigation.
Only WebMail is for
Alumni, linked to from
footer.
Linked to from the main
navigation but also linked to
individually from a sub nav.
Linked to from the main
navigation in the top-center of
the page.
Top-right beside and
stretching into the carousel.
Linked to from main
navigation and from sub
nav on left side of page.
Top-right hand corner below
header.
Top-right above main
navigation.
Top-right beside the header. N/A
Linked to from the main
navigation in the top-right
corner.
Linked to from a drop down
menu from the main
navigation.
Linked to from the footer at
the bottom-left corner.
Linked to from a drop
down menu from the
main navigation.
The above is a simple spread sheet designed to help the stakeholder easily identify the locations of specific
elements and to help identify trends among competitor websites.
Comparative Analysis
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8. Disappointments:
• Capilano University: Prime Navigation is split up which makes it a bit confusing. Navigation over all is
redundant and spread out over half the page (example: individual links to each program/area of study
as well as a ‘Program & Courses’ link).
• Capilano University: WebMail Login should be on the home page or no less than one page away. It
should also be a button, not a ubiquitous hyperlink.
• Emily Carr: Splash image dominates main page.
• Langara College: Navigation is aligned within each section but it’s a little scattered (although not as
much as Capilano’s).
• Vancouver Film School: No WebMail (that is visible to the public) except for Alumni.
• Vancouver Film School: No Search Bar.
• Vancouver Film School: ‘Programs’ area twice on main page.
Best Practices:
• 3/4 websites had navigation within or near the header at the top of the page (usually centered or on
the right).
• 3/4 websites had their Contact Information located in (or dropped down from) their primary
navigation.
• WebMail Login should be located, or at least linked to, from the home page.
• A Carousel of some sort was featured on 3/4 sites.
• Content takes up one-half to two-thirds of screen real estate.
Comparative Analysis
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9. Navigation
Navigation between the college websites is substantially different from one another. The items contained
within each navigation structure vary widely in: placement within each hierarchy, naming of each link, and
if they appear at all. The organization structure of each navigation system also varies widely depending on
the institution; for one or two of the websites it was difficult to discern which navigation area was the
primary navigation. Also the way the information is displayed can be vastly different from site to site;
some use drop down menus, some use hyperlinks for every link, and some have redundant links to the
same places.
The following chart contains all of the different Primary Navigation options from every website reviewed.
It would have been pointless to go through every menu and sub navigation on every home page because
many items are repeated several times on the same page. Additionally, many of the sub navigation items
need the reference of which main navigation area they belong to, making it nearly impossible to match a
list in any way that would be useful to the stakeholders.
Comparative Analysis
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10. Navigation System Comparison
Capilano
University
Emily Carr Langara College Vancouver Film
School
About (Us)
Admission (& Registration)
Alumni
Community
Contact (Us)
Creative & Applied Arts
Current Students
Donate
Emergency
Future Students
Health & Human Services
Home
Language
Liberal Arts & Language
Life at VFS
Management & Business
News & Events
Programs (& Courses)
Resources
Science & Technology
Services
Showcase
Social & Cultural Studies
TRUE TRUE FALSE TRUE
TRUE TRUE FALSE TRUE
TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
FALSE FALSE FALSE TRUE
TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE
TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE
TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE
TRUE FALSE FALSE TRUE
FALSE FALSE FALSE TRUE
FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE
FALSE FALSE FALSE TRUE
FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE
TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE
TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE
FALSE TRUE FALSE FALSE
FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE
TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE
FALSE FALSE FALSE TRUE
FALSE FALSE TRUE FALSE
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11. Displaying Navigation
Capilano
University
Emily Carr Langara
College
Vancouver Film
School
Drop Down Menu
Hyperlinks
Buttons
No Yes No Yes
Yes Yes Yes Yes
No No Yes Yes
Capilano University’s Navigation:
Comparative Analysis
9
Main
Navigation
Sub
Navigation
Footer

12. Emily Carr’s Navigation:
Comparative Analysis
10
Main
Navigation
Sub
Navigation
Footer

13. Langara College’s Navigation:
Comparative Analysis
11
Main
Navigation
Sub
Navigation
Footer

14. Vancouver Film School’s Navigation:
Comparative Analysis
12
Main
Navigation
Sub
Navigation
Footer

15. Disappointments:
• Capilano University: Navigation items doubled (not including footer).
• Capilano University: Splitting up Primary Navigation into three areas.
• Capilano University: Navigation split into 6-8 distinct areas.
• Emily Carr: “Hotlinks” area severely separated from all other navigation.
• Langara College: Navigation takes up almost as much screen real estate as the content. When the
page is first loaded users see more navigation than content.
• Langara College: If a user cycles to the next image in the carousel, there is no way of accessing the
‘Program & Course’ link other than to cycle through the entire carousel or reloading the page.
• Vancouver Film School: Doubling up of “Program” area items in a drop down menu and a sub nav on
the left side of the page.
Best Practices:
• Navigation Items:
• 4/4 had “Programs (& Courses)”
• 3/4 had “About (Us)”
• 3/4 had “Admission (& Registration)”
• 2/4 had “Home”
• 2/4 had “Services”
• Displaying Navigation:
• 4/4 used Hyperlinks
• 2/4 used Drop Down Menus
• Navigation copied into footer in two of the four sites.
• 3/4 websites did not split up their main navigation.
• 3/4 websites had main navigation horizontally oriented along the top.
Comparative Analysis
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16. Content Features
Content features can be viewed in a variety of different ways across these four websites. Some sites use
strictly text and images, some use links to other pages, and others use carousels and video content to
convey their content. The content areas are broken down into Primary Content & Carousels,
Secondary Content, and Tertiary & Lower Level Content (if applicable).
Capilano University’s Content:
Comparative Analysis
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Primary ContentSecondary Content

17. Emily Carr’s Content:
Comparative Analysis
15
Primary Content
Secondary Content

18. Langara College’s Content:
Comparative Analysis
16
Primary Content
Secondary Content
Tertiary Content

19. Vancouver Film School’s Content:
Comparative Analysis
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Primary Content
Secondary Content
Tertiary Content
Lower Content

20. MultiMedia versus Content
Note: This graph represents the entire
school website, not just the home page.
We can extrapolate from this graph that
as you move toward academia the
websites become content heavy, and, as
you follow the curve toward the Art/
Design oriented schools, the sites become
MultiMedia heavy.
Comparative Analysis
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Large Amount of
MultiMedia
(Images, Video,
Interactive
Features, etc...)
Little Amount of
MultiMedia
(Images, Video,
Interactive
Features, etc...)
Little Amount of
Content
Large Amount of
Content
VFS
Langara College
Capilano University
Emily Carr

21. Disappointments:
• Capilano University: Primary Content is a spotlight which section that targets hot issues/agendas
(2010 Olympics, H1N1) and only a miniscule portion of the school (President Search).
• Capilano University: Despite the fact that Capilano has a wealth of data/content over the other
websites, only the most current news & events appear as secondary content.
• Capilano University: No Carousel as all of the other websites had in some form.
• Emily Carr: No actual content on the main page, just links to content on other pages.
• Emily Carr: Carousel will only rotate if one reloads the webpage.
• Langara College: Bulk of content is linking away from the home page to different pages.
• Langara College: Rotating carousel hides some of the primary navigation.
• Vancouver Film School: A little too much content. Eye is not drawn to any one place because there is
so much.
Best Practices:
• Carousel appears on 3/4 websites as the primary content.
• 3/4 websites use large or lots of visuals either as their content or complementary to it.
• News & Events appears on 3/4 websites, 2/3 used it as their secondary content.
• Only two sites went beyond secondary content.
• Both the Langara & VFS carousels had handy forward/back buttons.
Comparative Analysis
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Forward/Back Buttons

22. Interactive Features
There are many types of Interactive Features among these four sites, for example: carousels, webmail,
video players, contact forms, and library book listings. Curiously only one of these features appears
across all four institution websites.
Carousels:
Carousels were discussed in detail in the Content Features section and will not be gone into in depth in
this section. This section will only highlight the interactive features within the carousels (if there are any).
As mentioned in the last section, both Vancouver Film School & Langara College take advantage of a
Forward/Back Button in their carousels (VFS even offers page tabs for quick scrolling between segments).
Comparative Analysis
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Forward/Back Buttons

23. WebMail:
All four websites have a WebMail service, although Vancouver Film School’s only WebMail access is for
Alumni only. Assumably VFS has an internal service that is available to their students but as it is not public
it cannot be used for this analysis. This analysis will also not investigate past the login area as the
principle investigator for this report did not have access to three of the four WebMail services.
Capilano University’s WebMail:
Capilano’s WebMail is accessed from a page that’s
is two page links away from the home page. One
must first find the ‘Student/Faculty Login’ hyperlink
on the home page and then use the ‘WebMail for
Applicants & Students’ hyperlink to access their
WebMail Accounts.
Comparative Analysis
21
WebMail Link
WebMail Login

24. Emily Carr’s WebMail:
Emily Carr’s WebMail is accessed through their
“Hotlinks” section which is located more than halfway
down their home page. They have extended a nice
feature to their students: the ability to select from
45 different languages.
Langara College’s WebMail:
Langara’s WebMail is accessed through
home page through a button just below
the primary navigation. They also include
a helpful ‘Help’ hyperlink.
Comparative Analysis
22
WebMail Link
WebMail Login
WebMail Link
WebMail Login

25. Vancouver Film School’s WebMail:
VFS’s WebMail is for Alumni only. To access it
one must go through a three stage process
(similar to Capilano’s). First the user must find
the link which is only located through a link in
the footer, then they must click on a WebMail
link, and then they are free to log in.
Video Players:
Given that video players are one of the most common applications on the internet, it is surprising that
only one of these institutions feature them on their home page (or anywhere on their site).
VFS has three areas for videos: Their secondary content is a video player, they have a showcase area that
is made up almost entirely of videos, and they link to their YouTube channel.
Comparative Analysis
23
WebMail Link
WebMail Login

26. Contact Forms:
Once again, a very common feature on the internet, however, only one of these school’s utilizes it.
Emily Carr uses a contact form to expedite inquiries and to not overload their email with general requests.
It is located through the “About Us” drop down menu or the footer.
Comparative Analysis
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27. Library Book Listings:
Library listings were common to three of the four college websites. Some include the option to request a
book or add it to a list to more easily remember it later.
Capilano University’s Listings:
Capilano’s system doesn’t have very much functionality beyond searching for a book by ‘keyword’ as the
only status seems to be ‘Out’ or ‘Check Shelf’.
Comparative Analysis
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Search
Areas

28. Emily Carr’s Listings:
Emily Carr has a much more sophisticated system than Capilano currently offers. They give a student the
option to request the item or to add it to their list for to help remind them to sign it out in the future.
Comparative Analysis
26
Search
Areas
Request
Item
Add to List

29. Langara College’s Listings:
Langara’s book listing system is similar to Capilano’s except that they limit their students to the use of
only two keywords.
Comparative Analysis
27
Search
Areas

30. Disappointments:
• Capilano University: Buried WebMail access.
• Capilano University: No carousel, video player/content or contact form.
• Capilano University: Subpar library listings application.
• Emily Carr: No video player/content.
• Langara College: No video player/content or contact form.
• Langara College: Subpar library listings application.
• Vancouver Film School: Buried WebMail access.
• Vancouver Film School: No library access.
Best Practices:
• Use of a Forward/Back button and/or tabs on carousels makes them easier to use.
• WebMail used by all four school.
• Use of video, contact forms, and library book listings is preferred.
• The ability to request books or at least place them into a list for later reference.
Comparative Analysis
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31. Program/Course Search
There are primarily two methods used by these four institutions for Program/Course Search: Lists or Drop
Down menus.
Capilano University’s Search Method:
Capilano uses a hierarchy in their search method. It is still a list but with sub lists. It usually takes
between three and four clicks to get to the area the user is looking for, assume they have been there
perviously or knows exactly what they are looking for.
Emily Carr’s Search Method:
Emily Carr uses the same method with a little less confusion, however, it seems difficult to locate an entire
program instead of just a section or one course. As with Capilano, it usually takes a user 3-4 clicks to
locate the area they are searching for.
Comparative Analysis
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32. Langara College’s Search Method:
Langara uses a different method of locating course
information; they use a drop down menu. This
method was easier to execute and it takes about
two mouse clicks to for the user to locate the
course or program they are looking for.
Vancouver Film School’s Search Method:
VFS uses a list system, however, for them, it makes sense. They only have thirteen courses which makes
the list easily scannable for what the user is looking for. They course listing can be found on the main page
and it is linked to from the main navigation.
Comparative Analysis
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33. Disappointments:
• Capilano University: Too difficult to locate information.
• Emily Carr: Too difficult to locate information.
Best Practices:
• Use of a drop down menu works well if there is a large quality of courses.
• Use of a list works best when the number of courses is restricted.
Comparative Analysis
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34. Conclusions
Capilano University (4/10)
Page Layout (6/10)
The layout is alright. Their content is in the correct place (as per Best Practices) even if the content its self
isn’t of the best quality. They really lost points with the spread out navigation which has a lack of flow or
any visible hierarchy.
Navigation (2/10)
Navigation is poor at best. There is no flow. No hierarchy. No sense of direction or which one is the
primary, secondary, and so on. No drop down menus makes this really hard to navigate. The only saving
grace is the fact that it matched five of its twelve navigation items with one or more of the other website’s
systems (can also be attributed to the fact that it had twelve navigation items, the next largest had eight).
Content Features (4/10)
Despite the fact that Capilano has a huge wealth of data at its disposal it displays little of it on the home
page; it only displays News and Events (common to two other sites). Also every other website had some
form of carousel; Capilano on the other hand has a small spotlight feature on the Olympics.
Interactive Features (2/10)
The only interactive features on the Capilano website is WebMail and the library listings.
Program/Course Search (4/10)
Course search is subpar. One must traverse the hierarchy to locate the program the user is searching for.
Comparative Analysis
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35. Emily Carr (5/10)
Page Layout (8/10)
The layout is fairly good. The only issue is that the splash image dominates their entire layout (which is
probably the effect they would like given that they are an art school).
Navigation (6/10)
Use of drop down menus is solid. Four of Six menu items match at least one competitor’s navigation. Only
issue is their “Hotlinks” section is severely separated from the rest of their navigation structure.
Content Features (4/10)
Their primary content feature is static until the page is reloaded. No actual content on the main page, it
only holds links to other pages where the content is stored. Splash image dominates page and distracts
from all other content. Only content displayed are News and Events (common to two other sites).
Interactive Features (5/10)
WebMail similar to Capilano’s. Their library listings system is an improvement however. Static carousel on
home page. They also utilize a contact form which makes emailing them an inquiry quite simple.
Program/Course Search (5/10)
Similar to Capilano’s system. Three to Four clicks to locate the area the user is searching for.
Comparative Analysis
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36. Langara College (5/10)
Page Layout (6/10)
Layout is hectic. Navigation isn’t quite as badly put together as Capilano’s however most of their content is
well below the point on the page where it should be.
Navigation (4/10)
Navigation is terrible (although not as bad as Capilano’s setup). They have aligned the different navigation
sections well enough but they are still strewn about the page. Also one of their main menu items,
Programs & Courses, is inaccessible if the carousel is rotated at all.
Content Features (6/10)
Decent content setup. Although much of it is far too low on the page, they do have a large blurb about the
college its self and they have a carousel which works quite well. The buttons on the carousel are a nice
touch for ease of use.
Interactive Features (4/10)
Aside from the buttons on the carousel, this site exhibits a few interactive features: a library system which
is a little worse than Capilano’s, and WebMail.
Program/Course Search (8/10)
This is the only site that used a drop down menu for their course search method. This made it simple to
locate program information with as little as two mouse clicks.
Comparative Analysis
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37. Vancouver Film School (8/10)
Page Layout (8/10)
No WebMail in main navigation or sub navigation. No search bar.
Navigation(9/10)
Good use of drop down menus. There are only two navigation areas (the secondary navigation repeats the
entire Programs area of the main navigation).
Content Features (8/10)
Only site to use four levels of content. Despite their lack of content, their use of MultiMedia makes them
stand out.
Interactive Features (8/10)
Most interactive features of any site reviewed. Forward/Back buttons and tabs on the carousel are very
nice to have. Standard WebMail system. Video player and links to VFS YouTube channel on the home page.
Program/Course Search (8/10)
Simple list for their Program search. This works well for them because they currently only administer
thirteen courses.
Comparative Analysis
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38. References:
Capilano University: http://www.capilanou.ca/home.html
Emily Carr University of Art & Design: http://www.ecuad.ca/
Langara College: http://www.langara.bc.ca/
Vancouver Film School: http://www.vfs.com/
Appendix:
Criteria:
• Page Layout (Home page)
• Navigation (both primary and secondary)
• Content Features (primary, secondary, and tertiary features on their home page)
• Interactive Features (Carousels, WebMail, etc...)
• Program Search (how it is handled: list, drop down menus, etc...)
Comparative Analysis
36