Spring Break
NT Web site gets new face
Arlinda Arriaga
Issue date: 10/15/08 Section: NEWS
Students are browsing easy on NT's Web site after its redesigned home page launched Tuesday.
Radio, television and film senior Krystal Bolton said she found the site to be visually appealing.
"Many of the main topics I use are easy to find on the page," she said.
NT Web content administrator Lisa Largen said the idea to redesign the home page started three months ago with internal research.
"The Web development content team, photographers and programmers worked together to find new ways to improve the Web site and the NT community's overall user experience," Largen said.
NT started its first site in the fall of 1994, and its last redesign was in January 2006.
Largen said redesigning the page was an in-house project and didn't require any outside money.
The redesign team analyzed the Web sites of University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Boston University, Rice University and Virginia Tech, in addition to colleges in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to gather ideas for NT's new design.
Based on the research done by the department, Largen said the topics on the home page were placed because they are the most frequented links to other NT sites.
In addition to the more streamlined design, Largen said other improvements include quicker performance, shortened download times and improved responsiveness of pages.
"Speed performance was done based on the best practices established by the Yahoo Performance Team," Largen said.
The NT homepage receives 1.5 million visits per month, she added.
In the next couple of months, Largen said the Web team has plans to enhance NT's Google search results with more relevant links for students.
"We will be monitoring how people use our page and tweak it to best fit students' needs and the university community as a whole," Largen said.
Compared to previous page, Bolton said she found the page to have a more modern design.
"Overall, I say it looks pretty good," she said.
Radio, television and film senior Krystal Bolton said she found the site to be visually appealing.
"Many of the main topics I use are easy to find on the page," she said.
NT Web content administrator Lisa Largen said the idea to redesign the home page started three months ago with internal research.
"The Web development content team, photographers and programmers worked together to find new ways to improve the Web site and the NT community's overall user experience," Largen said.
NT started its first site in the fall of 1994, and its last redesign was in January 2006.
Largen said redesigning the page was an in-house project and didn't require any outside money.
The redesign team analyzed the Web sites of University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Boston University, Rice University and Virginia Tech, in addition to colleges in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to gather ideas for NT's new design.
Based on the research done by the department, Largen said the topics on the home page were placed because they are the most frequented links to other NT sites.
In addition to the more streamlined design, Largen said other improvements include quicker performance, shortened download times and improved responsiveness of pages.
"Speed performance was done based on the best practices established by the Yahoo Performance Team," Largen said.
The NT homepage receives 1.5 million visits per month, she added.
In the next couple of months, Largen said the Web team has plans to enhance NT's Google search results with more relevant links for students.
"We will be monitoring how people use our page and tweak it to best fit students' needs and the university community as a whole," Largen said.
Compared to previous page, Bolton said she found the page to have a more modern design.
"Overall, I say it looks pretty good," she said.
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