UCSD Launches New Web Site

Ioana Patringenaru | December 17, 2007

UCSD has launched a new look for its Web site, featuring more graphics, improved navigation and better functionality. The launch represents the most comprehensive revamp of the UCSD home page in the campus’ history. It is the culmination of a two-year effort led by top university officials.

The first and foremost goal was to improve the experience of the nearly 1.5 million visitors, who come to the campus’ home page every month, said University Librarian Brian E. C. Schottlaender, who headed the committee in charge of the effort.

“I am very excited about it,” he said. “I think it’s very fresh.”

Revamping the Web site’s look was another goal, Schottlaender said. Also, officials wanted to provide a content management system that would allow departments to update their pages more efficiently and quickly, he added. The redesign includes the UCSD home page and about 40 sub-pages. Redesigned sections for current students and prospective students are part of the re-designed site, as well as sections for the University Libraries and Sixth College.

The new home page features a search tool powered by Google, Schottlaender pointed out. It also features rotating pictures that link to news stories. “It makes the site much more visually punchy,” Schottlaender said. A slideshow also puts the spotlight on the campus’ academic units.

The new Web site also puts academics right up front in the Learn, Explore, Apply sections. It also provides direct links to the campus’s six colleges and information about the college system. It offers several map options and features eye-catching photos and up-to-the minute news.

UCSD’s new home page also includes tabs for all the various members of the UCSD community, including parents and families, friends and visitors, alumni, staff and faculty, as well as prospective and current students. The tabs will direct these groups to Web pages designed especially for them. Designers used industry best-practices to create a usable, accessible Web site. They will keep refining and adjusting the site in coming weeks.

The redesign is the result on an outstanding effort by staff members in the University Communications and Public Affairs Office, Administrative Computing and Telecommunications, the University Libraries, Sixth College and Student Affairs, Schottlaender said.

“I was the chair of the executive committee, but believe me, the real work has been done in the trenches,” he added.

The Campus Web Site Executive Committee, chaired by Schottlaender, set the scope of the project, received and acted on recommendations from the Campus Web Site Coordinating Committee, and made all final decisions about project milestones, implementation and completion. In addition to Schottlaender, members include V. Wayne Kennedy, interim vice chancellor for External Relations, Steve Relyea, vice chancellor for Business Affairs, Penny Rue, vice chancellor for Student Affairs, Stacie Spector, associate vice chancellor for University Communications & Public Affairs, and Gabriele Wienhausen, associate dean of education in the Division of Biological Sciences.

Reporting to the executive committee was the Campus Web Site Coordinating Committee, representing diverse interests across UC San Diego, from academics to technology, communications to research. This group, with many subgroups and stakeholders, created and deployed the technical infrastructure, design and content of the new UCSD Web site. Current members include representatives from the University Libraries, Administrative Computing and Telecommunications, the departments of literature and neuroscience, the Division of Biological Sciences, UCSD Extension, UCSD’s colleges and the University Communications and Public Affairs Office.

The revamped site is the result of substantial research, testing and close consultation with a variety of users and visitors. The campus asked prospective students, current students, parents and families, as well as UCSD faculty, staff and alumni what they wanted to see on the new Web site. The answer: a focus on academics and campus life, information about the campus’ six colleges, maps and a good search tool, consistency, less clutter and more life.

In the future, the Web site also will feature an updated campus tour, Schottlaender said. Officials also are exploring ways to showcase the campus’ many academic programs, he added. From January to March, officials will again start collecting feedback from users and make some changes based on that feedback. In March, UCSD departments will learn more about how to join the project. They would then have access to an online tool kit, including a content management system that would make the look of their Web sites consistent with the look of the new UCSD home page. More departments could be trained as early as March and launch their redesigned sites by June.