Evidence for page decisions
A learner needs clear filters, useful course facts and an explained next step. These sources help assess those choices. They add to the eight learner studies; they do not validate SUNY's personas.
Checked October 26, 2026. Published research, standards and examples play different roles below. No paid reports were purchased.
Published guidance
| Source and evidence ID | What was checked | Useful application and limit |
|---|---|---|
| R09 / E-039: Baymard, Display Applied Filters in an Overview, updated May 13, 2026 | Public article's findings, desktop/mobile examples and implementation tradeoffs. It reports ecommerce usability research, not a SUNY study. This article does not give a standalone participant count. | Keep selected filters visible, removable and close to results. The prototype already does this on desktop. Either wrapping or horizontal scrolling can work on phones if choices remain apparent. The research does not establish one winning layout or a SUNY conversion gain. |
| R10 / E-040: NN/g, University Websites: Top 10 Design Guidelines, April 2016 | Public article, including its method: 33 participants aged 16–68, 57 university sites, four countries; prospective undergraduate/graduate students and parents. | Show campus ownership, use familiar words, expose offerings and deadlines, and check the journey across departments. Degree selection differs from choosing a short noncredit class. Do not reuse its problem rates as SUNY figures or its alumni-page advice as a requirement here. |
| R11 / E-041: NN/g, Five Questions for University UX Professionals, July 2022 | Public article's sections on prospective-student questions and understanding online study. It references updated university research; the article does not give the total sample. | Explain whether online classes meet at set times, what participation involves and how long study takes. Its examples concern degree applicants, including graduate students. Admissions, housing and campus culture are not automatically top priorities for this service. |
| R12 / E-042: W3C, WCAG 2.2 explanations for contrast, keyboard, visible focus and reflow | The criteria and their intent/notes. These are standards explanations, not participant research or a legal opinion. | Normal text generally needs 4.5:1 contrast; large text has a 3:1 threshold. Check keyboard equivalents, visible focus and content at 320 CSS pixels. Exceptions and complete journeys matter. These sampled checks do not establish conformance, and the project's accepted baseline still needs confirmation. |
| R13 / E-043: Pew Research Center, Mobile Fact Sheet, 2025 data | Smartphone-dependency section, income explanation and method note. The chart combines U.S. adult surveys containing the relevant questions; modes vary by year. | The sheet reports 16% of U.S. adults owning a smartphone without home broadband and greater dependence among lower-income adults. This supports including phones in the review. It does not estimate SUNY learner device use or prove phone-only access for any persona. |
Use these sources only for the decisions they address. A reason to keep filters visible does not settle which SUNY filters matter most. The needs comparison supplies the learner context.
Visual design and wider access guidance
Public articles and official guidance were read for the design questions in this review on October 26. They offer principles, component references and standards, not new research about this service's learners.
| Source | Application and limit |
|---|---|
| R14 / E-054: NN/g, Visual Hierarchy in UX, January 2021 | Use scale, contrast and grouping to direct attention toward important content. Supports assessing large imagery, title wrapping and the prominence of attendance facts. Its suggestions are design guidance, not universal font-size rules or measured SUNY outcomes. |
| R15 / E-055: NN/g, Similarity Principle in Visual Design, September 2020 | Similar treatments suggest related behavior and priority. Check links, main actions, supporting actions and selected states as roles. This does not require every clickable element to have one color or make every variation a defect. |
| R16 / E-056: NN/g, Button States: Communicate Interaction, April 2025 | Distinguish an action's visual priority from enabled, disabled, hover, focus and pressed states. Low contrast in a genuinely inactive control needs different treatment from readable status text. Use W3C for criterion-level conclusions. |
| R17 / E-057: Official SUNY Brand Kit | The public page identifies brand assets, including colors/fonts/logos, and asks that logo integrity be maintained. It does not establish this prototype's approved component rules. Attachments and an approved project palette were not verified; do not assert that magenta is prohibited or redraw campus logos. |
| R18 / E-058: Salesforce, Button reference | The component guidance separates variants and states and discusses names and reduced motion. It is a useful delivery reference. It does not prove this Commerce prototype uses that component, establish its theme/version or require a migration. |
| R19 / E-066: U.S. Web Design System, Typography | For longer reading, it suggests a comfortable line length of about 45–90 characters and enough line spacing to follow the next line. This helps review the Buffalo State description. It is practice guidance, not a WCAG threshold, a SUNY brand rule or a measured learner preference. |
R12 extension / E-059: the wider access check uses W3C explanations for non-text contrast, text resizing, text spacing, minimum target size and focus not obscured.
Check actual colors and adjacent backgrounds for meaningful control cues. Not every decorative border needs 3:1. Verify text at 200% without lost functionality, and whether user spacing overrides lose content. The target-size criterion uses CSS pixels and permits defined exceptions; screenshot pixels do not measure hit areas. A focused component should remain at least partly visible under the minimum criterion. Completed checks and open checks are kept separate in the main review.
The W3C text-spacing explanation tests whether content remains available when someone overrides line height, paragraph spacing, letter spacing and word spacing. It does not prescribe a default type scale. Minimum target size is 24 by 24 CSS pixels under WCAG 2.2 AA, with defined exceptions; a larger target can still help touch use. Contrast minimum generally uses 4.5:1 for ordinary text and 3:1 for large text. The 7:1 level is AAA. Apply these criteria to the actual web controls and states.
Three catalog comparisons
These were inspected in native Arc on October 26. They are examples of current behavior, with no usability scores, user tests or claim that their whole experience is better. Registration and inquiry were not submitted. Search-engine snapshots can differ from the current site; the saved native states are the observation record.
| Example | Observed pattern | What it suggests for this review |
|---|---|---|
| E-035: SUNY Online catalog and SUNY Niagara art course, Amrit's reference | Results show campus, course code, start date and credits. Detail names the campus, dates and credits, links costs/aid elsewhere, and explains the steps for campus registration and contacting the registrar. Catalog evidence; detail evidence. | Explain who handles the next step and what information the learner should carry. Its credit-course context and separate cost pages need care when adapting the pattern. Do not copy its use of noncredit/non-matriculated wording without checking meaning. |
| E-036: Monroe Community College professional-development search and Microsoft Excel Basics | Search offers price, day, morning/afternoon/evening and open-seat criteria. An Excel search led to a description that states no classes are currently available and supplies a phone number for future-class inquiries. Search screen; course evidence. | Attendance fit may need more than a start-date filter. An unavailable offering can still give a useful next step. This sample did not establish the cost or registration behavior of an available class. |
| E-037: LaGuardia continuing-education search, query Spanish | Current results placed title, session, date range, meeting times, days, fee and registration status together. Elementary Spanish I displayed January 4–February 24, 2027, 1–3:15 p.m., a $320 fee and registration available. Saved result; screen. | Test a compact comparison of schedule and fee before opening details. The fee is not verified as a complete cost. The day abbreviations and wide table should not be copied without a phone/readability check. |
An older indexed LaGuardia course link showed no current offering when opened. The Spanish search above replaced that cached example. An initial Monroe address entry omitted its final character; that 404 was an input error, not a site finding.
Decisions this evidence can support
- Preserve the prototype's selected-filter chips, clear-all control, class summaries and named campus handoff.
- Compare alternatives that make attendance, estimated/final cost, outcome and next action easier to understand together.
- Explain unfamiliar funding and credential terms where they affect a choice. Keep claims tied to the actual offering and its approved source.
- Include phone layouts, keyboard tasks and measured contrast in validation. A familiar pattern remains a design hypothesis until checked in this service.
The prototype findings record where these principles meet observed states and unresolved product rules.