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4 Web Site Redesign Follies
Marion
Smith, California State University, Dominguez Hills
Jan Boucher, California State University, Long Beach
Once upon a time, word spread that geeks could get
together in a new kingdom called Cyberspace. Subjects raced to upload
information onto the new kingdom. Eventually, any old jester was uploading
pages. It was wonderful! It was exciting! It was unmanageable! Sometimes it was
downright ugly!
Nearly two years ago, California State University
(CSU) Dominguez Hills initiated a Web site redesign with the goal of developing
a site that is both beautiful and easy to use. At midpoint, the Center for
Usability in Design and Assessment (CUDA) added a whole new set of design
criteria by asking the question, "Can the site viewer find the piece of
information s/he seeks?"
Jan Boucher is project manager of CUDA, located on the
campus of CSU Long Beach, which serves both corporate and educational clients.
Marion Smith, coordinator of instructional computing services at CSU Dominguez
Hills, has been a CUDA client. Using CSU Dominguez Hills as a case study, they
will outline the process and pitfalls of a Web site redesign, focusing on the
following three areas:
Political
Web
management/maintenance
Interface
Jan will offer guidelines and considerations for
redesigning an attractive and useful Web site that markets your institution and
programs, provides easy access to information for site visitors, and is
reasonable to manage and maintain.
By identifying and balancing major stakeholders' needs
you will have a better chance at keeping kings as well as jesters happy, so you
can live happily ever after (yeah, right).