MNSU to completely redesign university website
Maria Ly
Staff Writer
For years, Minnesota State University, Mankato and the department of IT Solutions has been working in transitioning the old website that has been around for more than 20 years to a newer platform and framework.
What used to be an old system framework that was hosted locally in MNSU’s computer center, will now be an automated web content management system that is hosted in the cloud.
Not only will the new website be easy to navigate, but it will also be compatible with every device. The new website update will also include redesign, improved user experience, updated content management process, updated workflow and approval processes, greater consistency in navigation and content site-wide, and efficiencies such as re-usable content and page versioning.
Most students base their first impressions on universities on how their website looks, and frankly, the old website doesn’t offer the user-friendly experience most incoming students are looking for- an added motivation in completing the website upgrade project.
The new website will have consistency of content as well as personalized content to the user. This will enhance user experience as it will provide suggestions of information and tabs for each website visitor front and center on the site. The design will remain consistent, but personalized content will be shown first based on what the user has been clicking on.
The new website supports the university’s mission as one of its goals is to have the most advanced and smart technologies available to the campus community.
According to the website update project’s timeline, the migration is expected to be finished by the next academic year. Ted Johnson, the Assistant CIO for Application Development and Web Services, Information and Technology Services states, “I would imagine that by this time next year, we’ll be pretty close to being done.”
The new website will not only benefit current students, but also incoming students, faculty and staff, academic departments, offices, and centers. The new website will be easier to navigate and much more efficient than the old website.
“I am really pleased with how people are approaching the project. People across campus in all the offices, departments, are realizing that this is an opportunity to make a big change and I appreciate that they are seeing this for the positive thing that it is. There’s been a real affirmation across campus, that it’s time, and yes this is going to be some hard work, because every office in every department have their own webpage,” Johnson states, “Bringing this into harbor, and being able to offer this to the students, to the faculty, and to the advisors, is going to help everyone a lot.”
Feature photo courtesy of Flickr.