UM Web site getting $57K facelift, seeks student feedback

A preview of the redesigned University of Montana Web site is available online and is seeking feedback before it is up and running in a couple of months.
The Home Page Subcommittee and Web Technology Services want to redesign the Web site so current and prospective students, faculty, family and alumni can find the information they need quickly and easily.
To help accomplish this, UM purchased a Content Management System for $57,000. All the executive officers in the UM President’s office contributed to the system and to the redesign of the site.
“We want to provide students and faculty with easier access to content that will be meaningful to them,” said Becky Maier, chair of the Home Page Subcommittee.

A preview of the redesigned University of Montana Web site is available online and is seeking feedback before it is up and running in a couple of months.
The Home Page Subcommittee and Web Technology Services want to redesign the Web site so current and prospective students, faculty, family and alumni can find the information they need quickly and easily.
To help accomplish this, UM purchased a Content Management System for $57,000. All the executive officers in the UM President’s office contributed to the system and to the redesign of the site.
“We want to provide students and faculty with easier access to content that will be meaningful to them,” said Becky Maier, chair of the Home Page Subcommittee.
The new design has six tabs near the top of the page. Each tab has its own page, creating six home pages targeted toward specific audiences instead of just one home page targeted to no particular group. Viewers can set the tab they identify with as the default tab by clicking on “set as default tab,” which is to the right of all the tabs.
Above the tabs are UM stories accompanied by photographs. The UM stories are aimed toward the audience of the tab selected. Under the student tab are various stories about UM students. Administration stories show up when that tab is selected.
The current design of the Web site has “too much stuff on the page,” said Mike Matthews, Web Technology Services Manager. “We thought it was confusing and really hard to navigate.”
Also, the way the Web site is designed right now, each department has a unique look to its home page. Some department home pages do not scream “UM,” Matthews said.
“We’re trying to go with a little more consistency in look and style while still allowing people to do their own thing,” he said.
The Content Management System separates the technical aspects of Web design from editing the Web page’s content. Information Technology will create a similar home page template for each department, then a faculty member can edit the content on their home page by clicking “edit” and typing in information.
“We tried to purchase a CMS that is scalable so people without Web knowledge can still use it creatively, while it still identifies as UM,” Maier said.
UM’s Web site makeover began in June 2007 when the Home Page Subcommittee looked at the Web site and realized it was too difficult for people to find the information they wanted. They also wanted to create a site that would draw in prospective students, Maier said.
The Subcommittee looked at various college Web sites and found that the sites with tabs on the home page were the easiest to navigate, Matthews said.
We needed to “provide meaningful information for students, faculty, alumni, etc., which prompted the tab idea,” Maier said. The tabs make it easier for each group to find the information they need.
Deciding what content to put on each page and whether the site is easy to navigate was a “really lengthy process,” Matthews said. “We had 44 different people from deans to students review it. We want this to be the best Web experience we can give them.”
You can view the redesigned UM Web site by clicking on “preview the Web site redesign” at the top of the page at http://www.umt.edu and leave comments and suggestions on any of the redesigned pages.
The preview of the Web site has only been up since Aug. 18, so Matthews said he expects a lot more feedback.
“Feedback is really important,” he said.
amy.faxon@umontana.edu