Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The NEW site: Comments and updates

After about 10 months of planning, testing and programming, the first phase of the redesign of the unca.edu Website was launched on Feb. 5. Thanks to everyone who has offered comments, spotted missing links and asked questions about the site. We have attempted to address all your concerns and the site is better for it.

Overall, the comments we received from faculty, staff, students, parents and alumni have been overwhelmingly positive. “Rockin” was the way one alum described the new site, while others used words like “outstanding,” “excellent,” “fabulous.” Visitors liked the variety of photography, the color scheme chosen and the clean and simple design and improved architecture. The home page features that showcase student activities and life on campus were especially well received.

Thanks! It makes those late nights worthwhile.

Of course, we also heard some complaints and lots of questions about where to find things. Our team will be working to address some of those including missing links, a request for more video and a bigger campus map. We’ve put together a FAQ that may answer some common questions. You can get the FAQ here.

We also are pleased to announce the hiring of UNC Asheville’s first full-time Webmaster, who will work with staff in Communications and ITS to keep the site fully functional and current. Luke Withrow has been an active member of our Web redesign committee and has worked at UNC Asheville since 2006 as a Technology Support Analyst. His knowledge of Web programming, our university community and his enthusiasm for using the Web in our communication efforts will be a huge benefit to the campus.

One of Luke’s primary responsibilities will be offering training and support for the new Content Management System (Drupal) during Phase 2 of the site redesign, which is now beginning.

Phase 2 will include converting the academic department sites and other sub-sites to the new templates. We are working with Provost Jane Fernandes to ensure that academic department sites will include complete and consistent information, which is particularly important as the university begins its SACS reaccreditation process.

So what have we learned so far?
In general site traffic is up. We’re still collecting data, but let’s take the Admissions site as one example:
During the period from May 1, 2009 to Jan. 1, 2010, the Admissions site averaged 126 visitors per day.

On Feb. 1, 2010 (a few days prior to launch of the new site) Admissions received 168 visits.

On Launch Day, Feb. 5, the Admissions site logged 464 visits.

By Feb. 15 that number had doubled to 831, and has remained in the 700-800 visits per day range.
Admissions staff say email requests for information and signups for tours also have increased dramatically.

Stay tuned for more updates, and please continue to send us your comments and suggestions.

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