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A redesigned main campus web site debuted June 15, boasting a new look and
feel that faculty and staff helped shape.
The redesign benefited from input from several faculty, staff and student
groups, as well as from about 1,500 e-mail messages submitted by the campus
community and others during a feedback period this spring.
"The reaction was overwhelmingly positive," said Scott Jared, director of
publications services and a member of the redesign's management team. "Of
course every person or group had their individual tastes and needs. We've
listened to everyone and tried to make the best decision for the home page
users in terms of speed, services provided and a pleasing design."
The overall goal of the redesign was to enhance main pages' visual appeal and
make finding information easier, according to Nancy Davis, associate vice
chancellor for University Relations, whose office manages graphic design and
content of the site's main pages. Academic Technology and Networks (ATN) is
responsible for the technical underpinning of pages.
"We think we've created a more consistent graphic look for the page and set up
links in a way that will make sense to users," Davis said. "This should be
particularly helpful to people outside the University -- prospective students,
alumni, the general public -- who told us that the old site was difficult to
follow."
Jared said the comments and suggestions from faculty and staff helped
accomplish the goal of making the site more user-friendly.
"The feedback helped us make thousands of small and large decisions about
content, design, uses -- just about everything you can think of concerning the
home page," he said.
Jared said changes that resulted from suggestions included using images that
better represent Carolina, optimizing images for faster download, enlarging
some text, making some links accessible from multiple sites and showing more of
the beauty of Carolina to users unfamiliar with the campus.
"It gives the user a feeling of Carolina when they see our web site," he said.
And while the site has been officially posted, that doesn't mean more
fine-tuning won't take place.
"The work won't stop -- everyone knows that we'll make changes where necessary
and continue to improve it," Jared said. "We've got many ears around campus.
The students, faculty and staff we've met with know who we are and know how to
find us if they want to talk about issues or have policy questions.
"The home page redesign has been a democratic process and will continue that
way."
Added Dana Bayley, director of design services and another member of the
redesign's management team: "That's the beauty of the web site -- it's not
static and can be altered easily to improve its function."
While University Relations is managing graphic design and content of main
pages, pages deeper in the site are handled by individual units and
departments. Design templates to help create and update pages are available via
links on the main pages.
ATN also played a key role in the site's redesign. Staff members turned
University Relations' vision into a working site, writing HTML code, creating
links and performing other needed technical tasks.
"ATN has been a great resource in our quest to get the web page up," Bayley
said. "Having their knowledge and technical expertise available made the site a
reality much sooner than otherwise would have been the case."
ATN's work didn't end with the redesign, as that unit continues to manage the
technical side of pages. ATN's duties include posting information to the site,
making sure that links work and overseeing the creation of group pages. (Go to
http://www.unc.edu/campus/aboutweb/howto/get
space.html if interested in creating a site.)
ATN provides 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week technical support for users,
with questions going to webmaster@unc.edu Any questions that come in about
graphic design or content are forwarded to University Relations as appropriate.
"We'll continue to be there for faculty and staff," said Janet Tysinger,
manager of ATN's Training Center and a member of the redesign's management
team. "We're glad to have been part of the redesign, because we think we were
able to create a site that will be an effective tool for faculty and staff. But
we also know that it will only be effective if it works, and we'll be working
hard to make sure that it does."
The main site -- which includes a link to information for faculty and staff on
the welcome page -- remains at http://www.unc.edu
Key groups and people involved in the redesign were: the management team of
Jared, Bayley, Tysinger and Bruce Egan, manager in the Information Technology
Response Center; Alison Duncan, a graphic designer in design services; Web
Walkers; Jeff Campbell, documentation and web supervisor in ATN; and Nancy
Smith and Tola Oguntoyinbo, web designers in ATN.
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