Ask HN: Why are academic websites so bad?
Many syllabus website I see from top universities or university program webpages are plain HTML. Is there an underlying reason why these sites don't use a basic design template and refined layout?
The real reason may be that universities hire students (who may or may not know anything about web design) to work on their main pages, and course pages are usually maintained by professors. However, ultimately, if you want your page to be accessible to people with crappy computers it makes sense to avoid the kind of bloated nonsense that passes for "good web design" these days.
Having said that, of course, I should concede that the choice isn't binary. Still.