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Show 3 ADMINISTRATION & STUDENT GOVERNMENT A screenshot of Westminster College's new website, which launched on Sept. 30. The new website comes from Westminster s communication department and has caused some confusion among students as to where resources are now located. Students struggle to adapt to Westminster Colleges new website SCOTT SALTER STAFF REPORTER Westminster College launched its new website on Sept. 30, leaving some students, faculty and staff struggling to adjust to the websites new look and organization. The websites new design comes from Westminsters communication departcl ment, with Senior Web Designer Luhr at the helm. Luhr said he and his team have been troubleshooting and tweaking the site since before the launch and are working to create the best user Da-vii- experience possible. The main focus of the redesign was to really refocus the website for prospective and current student audiences, Luhr said. As a result, weve had to change the information, architecture and organization. Now that weve launched the website, its time to make the user experience much better. Some students have criticized the new website for not being The amount of exploring Ive done on the website mostly left me confused and frustrated, said Rosanise Odell, a junior environmental science major. I know as a prospective student I definitely user-friendl- y. VthWrf ft would have been unimpressed and possibly would have given up on Westminster. When I was looking at schools, websites were definitely key, and if they were hard to navigate I wouldnt spend as much time and energy researching the school. The new sites design has also created some confusion as to where resources are now located. This is all part of the user testing process, according to Erin Coleman, a web design professor at Westminster. can ask people for their must haves, but they many not realize what they need until its missing or difficult to find, Coleman said. Good usability and functionality is determined through action. The new design fits current web standards, but it doesnt function the way that it once did. Its still in the early stagYou es. Other students have welcomed the changes to the website. It looks decently nice, said first-yebusiness student Cameron Campbell. Since Im already enrolled at Westminster, the site doesnt offer me much. But for someone who is looking to come to Westminster, the site looks really intriguar ing. Luhr said he urges students to let him Ffll year'T f ff. know about any issues they experience with the new design. Through the use of a scrum board, he and his team are prioritizing the issues and bugs to slowly improve the site as they go. It actually really matters to me to make sure that the user experience is really solid, Luhr said. With the feedback, we rank current and prospective students at the top of our priority list. I think any time you have feedback it becomes critical if anyone can propose a solution. Its really about peoples experience. If a user has an emotional response, that can be really helpful so we can know exactly what we can do to make the site perform more efficiently. Because the websites main program was purchased from a third party, Luhr said the redesign has saved time and money. Now that weve purchased a new website program, weve saved time and costs with the new website, said Troy Gerber, the colleges lead software engineer. You dont want to be fixing your tool all the time. According Westminster websites last a web design to Sebastian Hooker, the alumni who oversaw the redesign in 2014, a lot of happens without the user understanding what was required to get the site to function. Users just see the final version of a website that is released and dont see all of the hard work that went into distilling down every page and why it exists, Hooker said. Instead, they start by cridesign and immetiquing the front-en- d diately click to their program or interest, ignoring the overall site architecture. Hooker praised Luhrs redesign and said the site now has a more practical layout. Web design is a balancing act where you need to realize that it is impossible to please everybody, Hooker said. I think David did a great job working with each the individual department to content from the ground up. Before the redesign, content was all over the place and there were hundreds of pages-thre-cre- ate at served no real purpose. Luhr said there are more features coming that will be tailored to current students. The website is never done and nev- er should be done, he said. There is so many new features. Were going to be constantly addressing things to get the site to our dream version. |