We did a post on the best designed college websites a couple years ago. Since the digital world is constantly evolving and it seems trends become outdated overnight, we thought it would be worthwhile to take a fresh look and see what has changed in the last few years.

Interestingly enough, many of the sites were exactly where they were two years ago, showing no signs of having been updated. As much as anything, this is an indication of how much work it is to build and redesign a university site.

Having looked through hundreds of universities sites, we found several sites that impressed us with their design and smart navigation structures. Look at our list of ten below and let us know what you think.

Update: You can view our 2013 list of best college websites here.

(10) University of Chicago

This one has a simple, clean design.

university of chicago

(9) Boston University

This is a good site, but hasn’t evolved in a few years.

boston university

(8) Vanderbilt University

They do a great job of pulling out their school colors from great photos.  Overall, a solid site.

vanderbilt

(7) Notre Dame

We like the photos and permanent navigation, but don’t love the pixilation/fonts that are used in the navigation and subheads.

notre dame

(6) Duke University

This is another site that hasn’t been updated in a while, but a great site, nonetheless. It’s straightforward and useable.

duke

(5) Depauw

We love the slider and clean header.

depauw

(4) Northern Arizona University

The unique layout of this site is refreshing.

northern arizona

(3) Johns Hopkins University

This was our top pick on our post two years ago for its incredible use of photography. It has not changed.

johns hopkins

(2) University of Pennsylvania

We like the way they include simple feature on the left and large image without getting too busy.

penn

(1) William and Mary

There is a very fresh classic look. It’s also easy to find your way around the site. Beautiful crisp images.

william and mary