Home page demo posted for feedback

Change is in the air for numerous students about to graduate, but change is happening in a less visible — for now — capacity.

WUSTL Beta site
A test version of the University’s new home page is online at webmaster.wustl.edu:81; you can e-mail comments and questions to webmaster@wustl.edu.

The University is working on a new home page for its Web site, wustl.edu. Although not up and working just yet, a test version can be found either by following the link at the top of the current home page or by going to webmaster.wustl.edu:81.

The test page will be available through early May.

Along with Web Editor Colleen Lyerla and Webmaster Gail Wright, the team has incorporated several changes for the proposed new site in an effort to make it more aesthetically pleasing, easier to use and more useful in general.

“The redesign team has taken into account feedback received after the presentations to the University Council and University Management Team in January,” said Mary Ellen Benson, assistant vice chancellor and executive director of University Publications.

Some benefits of the proposed Web site will include streamlining and simplifying home page items, refreshing the design (background color, printable pages, changeable photos), incorporating user feedback about how they use pages (users usually go straight to the search engine, they don’t necessarily read lists on a page), and adding news headlines or highlights to the home page, which the majority of universities do.

There is currently no time frame for the official launch of the new Web site, although the tentative plan is to have it ready to go before the fall semester.

The new home page won’t affect department-level Web sites, because the departments’ sites are on different servers than the home page, which is maintained by Wright’s office.

Comments and questions about the proposed site may be directed to webmaster@wustl.edu.