Month: November 2009

In response to user feedback we have updated the “Resources” links in the global navbar to include the Library. To accommodate the additional link we have shortened “Offices & Services” to Offices. The color has also been changed to a lighter grey, increasing the contrast of these links, to make them easier to notice.

We appreciate your feedback. Thank you for helping us to improve the site.

This post presents some before and after shots for reference as well as some notes on the changes.

Overall:

• the old design was 760px wide while the new is 960px
• the top navbar has been changed to accommodate a greater number of links and to stay open until you close it
• there is a consistent footer on all new pages
• pages in the new design are running under the Cascade CMS

The homepage

The previous homepage had three changing content areas (Gallery, “Belt” buttons, and Headlines). The new homepage adds three more: “Differentiator” squares, Events and From the Community, and the Belt has been converted to a Highlights section. The universal navbar also applies to the new homepage; it appeared on the previous homepage in a highly modified form, with no drop down.

About Wesleyan

Landing pages such as About now have a narrative focus with the lists of links moved into the left navigation. This layout shows the basic form of new pages: the topbar, header graphic, left navigation, central content space, related links column, and a standard footer at the base of the page.

Admission

Admission landing page

Alumni

Parents

New pages

Footer

Today University Communications and Information Technology Services launched the new University homepage, major landing pages and Admission site:

More information outlining the changes will be posted here soon. Meanwhile, if you have suggestions or questions about the new site, or you want to report an issue, please use the Web Feedback Form.

The following message was sent to the campus community this morning.

From: announcement@wesleyan.edu
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 9:27 AM
To: Wesleyan Campus Community
Subject: Wesleyan’s New Web Site

Dear Members of the Wesleyan Community,

Tomorrow, University Communications and ITS will launch the redesigned Wesleyan University homepage, Admission web site, and several major landing pages (About, Academics, Campus Life, Alumni, Parents, and Offices & Services). At this time, these are the only pages that will be changed to the new look. This begins a major transformation of the Wesleyan web site that is expected to continue throughout 2010. All departments and sub-pages will be converted to the new design and content management system (CMS) over the coming 12–18 months.

The new design features significant improvements in navigation and content presentation. Also, the new Cascade content management system promises new capability within your department to develop, maintain and update content on your pages. ITS is pleased with the performance of this new system and we think you will be pleased, also. If you need help with navigation, please use the Search Box at the upper right portion of the screen.

We invite you to check the ‘From the Community’ section of the homepage. This new feature offers content from the new Wesleyan Community Blog. Anyone with a Wesleyan username and password is welcome to post and comment. Check it out at http://community.blogs.wesleyan.edu!

Join us in making Wesleyan’s online presence open, vibrant, and engaging.

University Communications & Information Technology Services (ITS)

The following message was sent to the campus community this afternoon.

From: announcement@wesleyan.edu
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 3:01 PM
To: Wesleyan Campus Community
Subject: Redesigned Wesleyan Website Launch

The redesigned Wesleyan University homepage, Admission web site, and several major landing pages (About, Academics, Campus Life, Alumni, Parents, and Offices & Services) will be launched on Thursday, November 12. These pages are only the first to be changed to the new design. This begins a major transformation of the Wesleyan website that will continue throughout 2010. All departments and sub-pages will be converted to the new design and content management system over the coming 12–18 months.

University Communications and ITS