The thought of anyone ever seeing my search history haunts me. Not because of what you might think, but because it is full of searches for “MyWT,” and “Blackbaud.” I wouldn’t doubt if this is the most searched thing on my computer to my deep dismay. This year, when I first opened MyWT, I threw up in my mouth. I was disgusted, disturbed, and devastated by the changes made to My “dear old” WT portal. These criticisms of the portal are universal across the upper school, plaguing us while stare at the new grape cough medicine purple of the portal. All I have to say is, make the portal great again.
Last year the portal was a beautiful plum purple. This purple, being the color of royalty (how WT), soothed our eyes as our brains throbbed at the fact we were on MyWT at 1 AM. Times were good then. The portal supported us. But now the portal attacks us every time we open it with its almost neon (day-glo, dare I?) tint.
But the color isn’t the worst part. No, oh goodness no. It’s the place that matters most on the portal – the assignment page. I already hated that page because of its contents but now I hate it because of its very design.
Nothing makes sense about it. First, the due date should be bigger. Let’s be real, that’s all I care about. Second, why are all the classes on the left actually massive and taking up about a quarter of the page? Third, I miss the old dropdown I got when I finished an assignment. Now its a bubble question which creates a trauma response in me because it evokes the very bane of my and most students’ existences – standardized bubble tests.
Beyond these things, it just doesn’t make sense to my brain. In fact, a WT teacher said, “I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone’s brain.”
And then, when you click on an assignment, the whole page looks off center and way too enlarged. The files area is far too low and all of the fonts beside the title of the assignment are way too small. Plus, what is the spacing between the assignment title and the main menu above?
Maybe I’ve just gotten to a point in my life where any change is a bad change. Maybe now any tech update sends my technical abilities into a spiral for months. Maybe the freshman love it. But I really believe that these portal changes are bad changes. I already didn’t want to do my homework.
Make the Portal Great Again. Go bears?
