Wish upon a star…

In order to determine what we should be focusing on in the coming months, we’d love to have your ideas about what you’d like to see in a new CC website. What are your hopes and dreams for CC’s presence on the web? What features would you like included in a new site?

We plan to hold an open forum this block to gather your ideas and would love for you to attend, but in the meantime, feel free to enter your comments below.

12 thoughts on “Wish upon a star…

  1. Lori Bissell

    Hi Karen,
    When I looked on the CSU website for information on Commencement for my son, I found that they have a tool for looking up ANYTHING by typing in the letter of the alphabet that the word starts with. When you go to the page with that letter, it lists everything available on the web starting with that letter, and the word links to the appropriate page. It made looking things up in an organized way very easy for me. At the time I wished that we had something similar here at CC.
    Good Luck!
    Lori

  2. Chad Schonewill

    I’d like to see the site simplified – the biggest problem of our site (and many websites, I find) is sheer information overload.

    I’d also like to see it be more unique, maybe include something like a codebaby? http://www.codebaby.com/ or otherwise do something daring in the design. Right now the site is a bit bland and is like everyone else’s college site.

    Just as we’d advise students who apply to find a way to stand out from the crowd, we should do the same!

  3. Matt Reuer

    I wanted to ask how different groups could grab attention from
    the site. Right now the arrangement is primarily organized lists, so
    it’s difficult to distinguish one group/department/activity from
    another. In other words, they’re very well organized but equally bland.
    How about a frame with an attractive picture and formatted text that
    highlights some of the more dynamic campus activities, such as the
    Sustainability Council, the Bowed Piano Ensemble, or the State of the
    Rockies Project (as a few examples)? To share space, each group could be
    featured in the frame on a specific day or with each page refresh.

    Second, maintaining standard formatting across campus sub-sites would
    really improve the overall site. Right now it’s the Wild West of the CC
    Web, and the web site creator is a great tool to adopt standard
    formatting with .ASP and CSS. More departments should be encouraged to
    migrate their content to a standard CC format. They might even find it’s
    easier to create content with the site creator tool (I did).

    Finally, I’d like to see more cross-campus blogs, course pages, and
    forums available on the site, using a standard format with better
    discussion threading. Right now too much material is buried in PROWL and
    password protected. Wouldn’t a prospective student or parent like to see
    class discussions happening in real time, or some student in Africa have
    access to CC course material (similar to MIT’s OpenCourseWare)?

  4. Mark Saviano

    Style versus Content
    I look at a website primarily as providing me with information I’m looking for. I’ve always preferred bland and organized to sightly and difficult to navigate. But the sentiment to have an entertaining side to the site is a good one. Maybe there can be different areas, some focused primarily on info (“just the facts mam”), like directories of people, lists of departemetns and offices, etc., and another that highlights activities and such on campus and includes photos, video, etc. Just a thought.

    Consistency
    Dept and Office consistency of *navigational style* is a must. It should not be “people” in one place, “faculty” in another, “faculty and staff” in another, etc. Room should be left for customization too, but it’s a balance.

    Update Planning Scheme
    Too often sites try to put really “exciting” information up and end up with pages that have no hope of being kept current. Too many “current events” and other time-delimited content. Thought should be given to creating “timeless” pages that will not change much (like course offerings I suspect) and other “current” pages that will change a lot (like “events on campus”). Planning should be given to keeping the “current” type manageable given whoever has to keep them updated.

    Maps
    Sitemaps, alpha lists (as mentioned above), etc should be available. Many people look for these first thing when entering a site.

    Viewing Styles
    Thought should be given to the fact that not all surfers have the same perceptual tendencies. What works for some will be awful for others and vice versa. The site should allow for more than one style of surfing. (Sitemaps versus main menus are an example of two ways.)

    Best,
    -Mark

  5. George Eckhardt

    Karen,

    As you re-design the CC web site, please help us keep the links to our sustainability efforts on the external (and internal) front web pages. We have gotten great local and national publicity for the college sustainability initiatives per the attached links for the new “sustainability tour” and other efforts. The visual presence of sustainability initiatives on the front web pages has been a great educational tool for the campus community, and is also turning out to be a wonderful recruitment tool for prospective students.

    http://www.nwf.org/campusEcology/climateedu/articleView.cfm?iArticleID=134

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-04-20-greencolleges20_ST_N.htm

    I believe the tactful text reference to our sustainability efforts on the current front internal web page easily takes interested people to the Sustainability web page who might not go there otherwise as we try to nurture the sustainability culture campus wide per the college mission core values.

    Thanks for all your support and help to promote Colorado College sustainability goals, George

  6. Brenda Sot

    I would like to see an events calendar on the main CC webpage with a link to the event that you have an interest in going to. I would also like to have a search field where you can ask any question like “How do I book a conference” and that would take you to the Conferences Web site.

  7. Chris Kolodey

    I would like to see a more extensive events section that is immediately visible, specifically with ATHLETICS. There are lots of sports = lots of home games and I feel those should be listed right along with visiting speakers, etc. Every NCAA team had a winning record this year, lets show some love right on the front page.

  8. Pingback: » Web Overhaul Campus Forum – Friday May 7th CC Web Overhaul & Redesign 2010

  9. Amy Pacheco

    I am in agreement with the predominant themes discussed:
    We need simplicity, easy navigation, style consistency across departments, more dynamic up-to-date content, and less redundancy. While I think a CMS could be helpful, we also need to make sure our creativity and uniqueness as a community is not stifled with style and implementation limitations. I would shudder at the thought of our website being just another Moodle/Prowl.

    Suggestions
    -I would really love to see the creation of an interactive campus map iphone app. Something like the one at Gettysburg College: http://www.gettysburg.edu/visiting_gettysburg/getting_togettysburg/iphone-app.dot

    -If they haven’t already, invite our extremely bright and talented students to contribute code and art.

    -Most of the academic departments tend to include the same type of information, with various ways of displaying it, such as current catalog and academic program information. It would be extremely helpful to have widgets that would import this information from a central source, and invaluable to those unfamiliar with coding, or where webauthoring responsibilities change each year such as with paraprofs. Perhaps these exist already but not everyone knows about them. Then it is not a need of training, but of giving the “rogue” webauthors the information they need. Making use of the something like the listserv for webauthors (which exists, but I don’t recall ever receiving a message from it in my 9 years here), would help to create a more collaborative and communicative environment.

    -Another management/communication issue is, who is in charge of which content, and who do we go to if something needs to be changed or posted? I remember having a problem trying to post a job announcement for my department. I contacted the helpdesk who told me to contact the webmaster who told me to contact the deans office who told me that they needed my dept chair to verify that this was an approved posting, etc. This could have easily been automated or even done with an archaic webform submission, rather than spending half a work day trying to find the right person to talk to.

  10. Peer

    We should be designing our website the way our peer institutions do. If CC expects to move into the top 10 liberal arts rankings we need to have a website similarly designed to Williams, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Amherst, Wesleyan, etc..

  11. Gay Victoria

    As the College moves forward with a redesign of the main web site, I would urge those leading the charge to also consider that, with the loss of staff last spring, many offices are unable to maintain their web pages appropriately. The CSL has taken most things off our web page that need to be regularly updated and only are able to do the most critical updates due to lack of staff time (having lost a position). I am sure there are other offices that relegate their web page to the back burner. This being the case, it would be nice if CC had a template for offices and departments to use in creating an efficient and cohesive look for the college. This not only makes functionality easier for the user (since they would all be accessed in the same manner) but it would make things much easier on departments and offices that need and want a more efficient and user-friendly web site, but do not have the staff to investigate creating one.

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