It's no secret that many of Penn State's Web sites are confusing. Between the copious links and pop-up windows, asking freshmen to view their semester bill online is close to impossible.
But leave it to the group who created Lionmenus.com to make surfing the Penn State portal a cinch.
Penn State graduates Justin Goldman and his three partners -- Chris Jeffery, Jason Kwicien and David Laiderman -- recently launched www.EastHalls.com -- a Web site that includes familiar sites, like LionMenus and LionBars, as well as two brand new services -- LionEdu and LionPages.
"[EastHalls.com] is a portal to all of the services that we offer," Goldman said.
He describes LionEdu as "a cheat sheet to the Penn State Web site." It features direct links to many of the more frequented parts of the PSU main site, including the more obscure and hard-to-find places.
"I know how crazy psu.edu is and how much stuff there is," Goldman said. "It definitely helps to have everything on that one site categorized."
The other new site, LionPages, is a stripped-down version of Yellow Pages, tailored specifically for State College. In the future, students can also expect expanded services as well as coupons and deals for stores, some of which already exist on the site.
"I will use it," said Jessica Stein (junior-biobehavioral health and neuroscience). "Everything is on one page and looks organized."
Goldman, who graduated last year with a "create-your-own" entrepreneurship major, created LionMenus in 2003 after too many weekends filled with the same Chinese take-out.
"I was a frat guy, and on weekends we don't have cooks, so we have to order out for breakfast, lunch and dinner," Goldman said. "We would use the same four menus over and over again. The Internet was still coming of age and getting popular, and we had the idea to put the menus online."
LionMenus has grown substantially from its initial selection of four menus. The site averaged 3,100 hits per day for the month of September. Goldman said that EastHalls.com is shooting for one thousand per day, but recognizes that the site is still in its infantile stages.
"I definitely would use it," said Matt Hayes (junior-supply chain & information systems and German). "I don't want to have to go around to ten different Web sites to find what classes I have to take or what the menu at the dining commons is."
Goldman said that EastHalls.com will undergo expansion as he and his partners roll out more services. But the Web site, he said, will be a pertinent part of student's lives.
"[Easthalls.com is] not just for freshman," Goldman said. "Every Penn State student starts their college career in East Halls. Everything [on the site] can be used from when you are a freshman to when you graduate."
