International Tuba Euphonium Association

Website:
http://www.iteaonline.org

Intended Audience:
The website is designed to reach “those who take a significant interest in the tuba and euphonium – their development, literature, pedagogy, and performance,” and particularly, those who are members of the International Tuba Euphonium Association.

Usefulness of Content:
The website contains a tremendous amount of useful information about all things tuba and euphonium. The most useful content on the website is its compilation of links to other related websites and listservs. The website also does a good job of providing content that is helpful to a broad range of people, from the younger students of tuba and euphonium to those who play the tuba professionally and desire to be an active member in the International Tuba Euphonium Association. Some of the news provided on the site appears to be somewhat old, but the listing of upcoming events contained on the site is very up-to-date.

Consistency of Design:
Unfortunately, the consistency of the website’s design is its weakest feature. Clicking through the web pages, one can find differing fonts, font sizes, text formatting and text colors. Even the main menu on the left hand side of the pages changes font size depending on the webpage. The most distracting design aspect is the use of bright white/silvery lettering on a black background. I understand that the reasoning is to convey the same shiny, brass and silver coloring as each person’s tuba or euphonium, but at least for me, reviewing the website led to quick eye fatigue.

Ease of Navigation:
The website is not the easiest website to navigate, but it is certainly not the worst. Some of the aspects that detract from its ease of navigation are: (i) certain pages that are very long and require a lot of scrolling, such as one of the “Links” pages that contains a single, narrow column with pictures of over 30 tuba soloists, (ii) the use of a silvery “Back to Main Page” button, rather than having a “Home” link or the ability to click on the logo at the top of the webpage to return to the home page, (iii) a dead link when clicking on the “Contact” category on the main menu, and (iv) the inconsistencies in the overall website design discussed in the preceding paragraph.