As Pacific University’s website stands now, there’s more than 20,000 pages. But that will be fixed soon along with changes in design.
“We are on an old server, without upgrades in years. Our look and feel is very different than other websites,” said Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communication Tammy Spencer. “It’s a disadvantage for us. Functionality is not ideal and expectations might not be met.”
Spencer and Web Marketing Developer Benjamin Griffin are working to make the website closer to a couple thousand pages with a complete revamp.
“We want the pages that are critically important,” said Spencer.
Currently, only half the traffic comes in through homepage, said Spencer, the second most used page is the “Online Tools” section.
The revamping works to make the website more visually appealing, but one of the main goals Spencer said they have is to organize content for the users. There are various audiences to reach through the website including internal and external stakeholders, said Spencer.
A lot of the huge changes are in platform, design and navigation, she continued.
A section called “My Pacific” is the hub for undergraduate, graduate and professional students as well as our faculty and staff.
“We want to make it easy, get the audience information and design content for every audience,” said Spencer.
This is an 18 to 24 month project, but the team has been gathering information since last year.
Spencer and her team sent out an online survey, and while Spencer said she was worried students wouldn’t give much feedback, 40 percent of respondents were current students. She and Griffin spoke at the open forum called Changes to Pacific Oct. 23 and have reached out to student senates at the graduate and undergraduate level.
The goal for a finished design is Nov. 15, said Spencer, then building the framework starts.
“The structure is different, so it won’t be seamless,” she said.
The site will start to be implemented in sections starting in January or early spring.
“We want to share with everyone to provide feedback,” said Spencer.
Once the sections are launched there will be reviewing and editing of content as time goes on. But, this timeline depends on the feedback Spencer’s team receives.
She ensured that third party vendors like Moodle and email will continue to exist and be accessible through the site.
“I would like there to be an ongoing awareness of changes,” said Spencer. Griffin and Spencer are open to conversation about the website.
“We are building this to make a more robust website,” said Spencer. “We are telling the story of Pacific, what drives us.”
Leave a Reply