‘Extreme makeover,’ Web site edition
NDSU home page receives facelift to better accomadate users
“Extreme makeover,” NDSU Web site style, was recently unveiled.
David Wahlberg, director of university news, said the university’s Web site redesign has been underway for a number of months.
“ Anytime you change something, you’re trying to make it better and easier for the user,” Wahlberg said. “It’s a challenge with the Web to find who a user is, because they’re everyone, but the Web site’s redesign is meant to make navigation easier for students, faculty and staff.”
Despite the Web site’s facelift, the information and content is relatively the same.
The changes were made in part due to feedback the university received from students and faculty, Laura McDaniel, director of marketing communications, said.
“ The Web site redesign is a part of the ongoing effort to make NDSU’s Web presence more informative,” McDaniel said. “It wasn’t a drastic redesign to the overall Web site. We felt we were in a position at the university to tweak the site from the feedback we received about problems people were having with the (old) site.”
The site also incorporates a special type of coding called cascading style sheets (CSS). CSS also helps with user accessibility on the Web, McDaniel said.
“ One of the things they (NDSU) have an obligation to do is to make federal accessibility guidelines,” McDaniel said. “CSS helps with that.”
Student reaction to the site’s changes has been positive, McDaniel said.
“The Web site is now much cleaner and easier to navigate according to the feedback we’ve received about it,” McDaniel said. “We’ve really received a lot of positive feedback.”
Nikki Vaughn, a sophomore, is among those students who welcome the new changes made to NDSU’s Web site.
“ Everyone’s so opposed to change, even when it’s for the better,” Vaughn said. “I like the new look, but I’m surprised (NDSU) didn’t mention that it was changing. They usually make such a fuss over things like that.”
Samantha Dramstad, junior, says she hasn’t quite embraced the Web site’s changes like some other students.
“The Web site is just confusing to me,” Dramstad said. “There’s so much stuff on the front of the page and they switch the navigation bar on the main page from the right to the left side of the screen periodically. I liked the old Web site better.”
The changes to the Web site represent an overall message NDSU is trying to convey to students and faculty across campus.
“I think that the basic message is we are working hard to be responsive and helpful to our users,” McDaniel said. “That’s an ongoing effort.”