 Weaving a New Web: MSU Launches Updated Home Page
Beginning today, Montana State University is putting on a new face as it debuts an updated university home page.
The page, nearly a year in planning and design, is the work of
the university's Web Advisory Committee, a group of
representatives with broad campus representation. Thanks to the
committee's diligence, the page is as easy to use as it is
attractive.
The designers, programmers and technicians that worked on the new
page say that unlike the previous home page, which was "static,"
this page is "dynamic," or designed to grow and change with the
university's needs.
Among the new features of the page:
The Web Advisory Committee met for several months researching
needs and building consensus before beginning to build the
design. Lead designers for the page were Moss Hartt, director of
MSU Communications Services, Steve Burk, the MSU Web coordinator
with the Information Technology Center and Allen Porter, a
systems programmer, also with ITC. Cel Johnson, formerly with
Institutional Research and the Web Advisory Committee chair, was
the driving force behind the project as coordinator and manager.
"One of the greatest challenges in this process was the
development of the organizational structure for the top-level, "
said Hartt. "With so many competing interests, and such a small
space, the need to tighten the organization of information became
apparent early."
One of the tools used was a more succinct organization of links
at the top-level leading to second-level pages that have more
detailed, and a virtually unlimited, organization of links. Hartt
said the team learned that the university community wanted the
new Web page to be "content driven." That resulted in the
creation of a news slot centered on the page that is meant to be
like a daily newspaper.
"These stories should provide a broad view of the diverse parts
of our institution, including research, academics, athletics,
agriculture, community affairs and other pertinent topics," he
said. Members of an editorial board of writers will post the
stories across campus, coordinated by Carol Schmidt, MSU's news
editor.
There are also two "promotional corners" on the page where events
and other important university information will be displayed. One
corner will be for text announcements, the other for graphical
promotions. MSU University Relations will oversee the posting of
information on the promotional corners.
Burk, MSU's Web master, said search options have been greatly
increased.
"In conjunction with our new search engine, we're promoting the
new footer, or the graphical element at the end of the page, as
an option throughout our site. In addition to providing home and
search features, it is also a unifying identity element."
The university's Mountains and Minds theme is retained. Like its
predecessor, the new layout features a photograph of MSU and the
surrounding mountains taken by Rick Jackson.
The designers said careful consideration was given to load-times
for dial-up (modem) connection users -- important for most
off-campus users. User-friendly design was favored over "dazzle"
design.
"The load time for the new home page is very similar to the
previous design," Porter said. "It was important to not make our
users bear the burden of increased download times."
The designers and programmers said because the cyberworld moves
rapidly, "It's inevitable that we'll need to do it again someday
-- probably sooner than we can imagine now," Burk said. "Whenever
that is, there will probably be a whole new set of tools and
standards for us to use."
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