Web re-design discussion
Mar. 4, 2009 by sjacaruso
Hello, The web design group invites you to weigh in on our current homepage/web site. As you can see, our homepage has recently undergone a minor update, which represents phase one of a larger redesign and restructuring. Thanks for taking the time to review our current web site and for offering your comments and suggestions. One question we would like to ask is, “What would perspective students and their parents find useful on the homepage”? All of your suggestions are welcome. Thanks, Steve Jacaruso
I really like the new “beltway” links highlighting major Wes news. The fact that it is color photo links is a great improvement over text hyperlinks.
Here are just a few thoughts…
1. “Quick Links”
Remove Athletics, since Athletics at Wes is directly below. Add Registrar (http://www.wesleyan.edu/registrar/) and Student Affairs/Deans’ Office (http://www.wesleyan.edu/deans/).
OR
Remove “Quick Links” and use that pop up box technology to be used on the left column links (About Wes, Academics, etc). Each link would have approximately 5 quick links.
2. Does the home page need a Search link and Search box? Perhaps remove the Search box and keep the link on the top header.
3. Vertically condense the site, so the entire page appears. Therefore users don’t have to scroll down.
4. Replace “Headlines” with permanent beltway style links— “Wes in the News”, “Roth on Wesleyan Blog”, “Give to Wesleyan”, “Virtual Tour” and “Wesleyan Magazine”.
Best of luck.
Paul
I think that new courses could be highlighted as a recruiting tool. I’m responsible for the undergraduate curriculum in the Registrar’s office. We solicit new course information as part of Curriculum Development which is open from October to February. It closed just recently and new courses are flagged as such in the system. Once approved by the Academic Deans, when we push those courses back to Peoplesoft, new courses will have a single effective date row utilizing the first day of the academic year in which it will be offered. Other new courses are submitted year-round by departments and would also carry a single effective date row of 9/8/09 for instance. As an augmentation to Wesmaps we should be able to highlight “new innovative courses” that are being introduced each academic year. We should be able to add a specific link to this type of information on the Wesmaps page. This will draw attention to the cutting-edge work of our faculty scholars. This type of information has been solicited from us by University Communications in the past for inclusion in Wesleyan Magazine. Parents are particularly interested in the types of courses we offer so a link putting this information out in the forefront would be a great idea in my opinion.
Best, Susan
When returning to campus what do alyumni want to know if they aee driving: (1) Campus driver’s map
(2) Parking lots & location
(3) Alternate means of of travel,i.e. “jitney,etc.”
Thanks, Muzz Molina