What is the biggest decision maker when it comes to picking a college? Is it the nice buildings, the friendly people, the free lunch you receive when you visit, or is it the website and the content that lurks within? Perhaps the website convinced us to attend, without us really knowing. A schools website is a first impression. Of course each school would want it to be the best looking and the easiest to use; that way it attracts more potential students.
Picking the best company to do the redesign is very crucial. “We worked through an RFP process where interested vendors submitted proposals in response to our requirements for a redesign,” Sentz said. Basically, the redesign committee interviewed companies who had done previous work for other institutions and narrowed it down to the most impressive candidate.
The design committee is looking to create a more simple, clear and understanding website. The visual design, content, organization and navigation will all be changed. This project was started at the beginning of the 2014 fall semester and the new and improved website is supposed to be operating by fall 2015. There will be a testing period for the website throughout the process to make sure that it is working properly.
A lot goes into figuring out what is best for the website. The design committee is working to gather input from different groups on campus to identify the needs, priorities and expectations of everyone that is involved. “We are making use of web analytics data to determine what users are doing on the current site and find ways to make the site more intuitive,” Sentz said.
It is believed that change is good. So we can say goodbye to the old SU website and hello to a new and improved one.
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