Opinion Board | Out with the old

Penn students generally don't agree on much, but one thing they seem united in is their distaste for Penn's online technology.

And for good reason.

Penn Course Review is poorly configured and needlessly time consuming.

As for PennPortal, it may have been cutting edge when it was introduced in the mid-1990s, but now your average computer-science major could draw up a far superior, more intuitive design.

And who can forget how the University jerked around its students last year when it came to announcing which service would replace the crash-prone Webmail system?

Microsoft as it turned out, and only 78 days past the deadline!

And up until recently, Penn's home page was similarly dull and outdated.

The University gave the site a much-needed makeover over the summer with large rotating photos on the main page and a link to a new page called Penn Digest that describes current news and events on campus. Overall, the site is significantly more aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly.

That's a welcome development, but rather than patting themselves on the back, it's time the University got serious about revamping PCR and

PennPortal. An attractive, new home page is nice, but Penn should prioritize benefiting current students rather than prospective ones.

Penn is a first-rate university and prides itself on that fact.

Its students deserve first-rate Web sites and software.

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