District Office Web Redesign Summary
Purpose
The purpose of marketing and web development is essentially the same — to communicate — better yet, to communicate persuasively and effectively. What messages do we want to deliver to our various communities? What information do they want delivered? The primary goal for the district office website redesign is to create a customer-centered site in alignment with current branding and outreach efforts. The process utilizes standard marketing and web development principles including extensive research and planning. Phase I has been in motion since January 2005, with go-live scheduled for July 14, 2005. Phase II will begin July 2005.
Phase I
Phase I involves restructuring the information architecture of existing content, designing a new visual identity, establishing web standards, developing a template for department/program sub-sites, and testing for usability.
College web managers were consulted for best practices and to determine college-specific needs. Those needs include a consistent look and feel, an interactive district-wide map, highlighting online classes and improving the usability of district-wide information such as tuition, class schedules and programs and degrees.
An advisory committee reviewed the redesign and web standards and made recommendations for improvement. All suggestions were either immediately incorporated in Phase I or included in Phase II planning for future content. The committee consisted of at least one web professional representing each of the district office divisions, a web manager from GWCC and a web manager from RSC.
The template is a PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) document with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for screen, print, projection and handheld media types. The header and footer are Server Side Includes (SSI). PHP is the preferred document type, but others are acceptable as long as they support SSI.
The process for creating a new sub-site will remain the same – submit a helpdesk request. When a new sub-site is created, the web communications team will immediately be notified and will establish contact and support with the web personnel. For support beyond creating a new sub-site, the web communications team should be contacted directly. If a request is inadvertently submitted to the helpdesk, it will be forwarded to the web communications team.
Training and support for the new guidelines and template are available by contacting the district office web communications team. In August 2005, Technical Training Services will assist with support by offering a customized class that will train employees on the district office template in Macromedia Dreamweaver.
Phase II
Phase II involves updating sub-sites with the new standards and template in addition to creating new content. It also involves vigilant monitoring of usability, content and evolving web standards and technology in addition to improving support, communication and collaboration with college and district office web personnel.
New content will include a tool for choosing a college by major or geographic area, similar to the California State University application; a tool similar to Phoenix College’s Major Matcher; several district-wide calendars for athletics, performances, fine arts and other events; a district-wide class schedule search; an RSS feed for news; a sub-site dedicated to recruiting international students; a section highlighting online classes and a place listing easy to understand tuition information.
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