New Website Tips & Resources

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When we redesigned csustan.edu, our goal was to create an innovative, purposeful web experience that reflects who we are as a University community. We approached content strategy, page design and site development with the aim of making it easier for users to find the key information they need.

The website is the most public-facing expression of our mission, goals, values, quality and success, and it also plays an essential role in recruiting talented students, faculty and staff. Stan State is positioning itself  to serve students with an innovative University experience — our website should reflect that.

The current site has been in use since 2014 and has served us well in that time.

The website redesign and updated content management system, combined with new content guidelines, will help ensure the website is cohesive and reflects the unified purpose of the University.

Overall Project Timeline

Websites in the first rollout were determined to be top-level, high-traffic pages that should concurrently adopt the same user experience established on the homepage at the time of launch. The websites in the first rollout (listed below) will be migrated to the new platform in July 2021.

The remaining content on the website will be migrated in subsequent waves; more details will be available following migration in the first rollout, after an evaluation of the process. To order the migration of remaining content, we are developing a prioritization model based on factors such as business impact, content readiness, availability of migrating department's resources and operational calendar.

All schedules related to web modernization are subject to change based on resources available and preparedness. When it’s time for department sites to migrate, the web team will send appropriate updates to content contributors and update the website to reflect any developing changes.

New Website Will Rollout in Phases

The University homepage will be part of the first rollout, as well as some of the top-level pages off the homepage. A preliminary list for the second rollout is included below as well; it is subject to change.

Impact on Departments/Contributors & Training

Departments are being asked to inventory their current web content, make edits, and/or mark pages for deletion. See more under Department Website Audit Sheet section.

We’ll also be requesting that departments review the new web content strategy and attend training sessions. The content management system hasn’t changed; however, a lot of the backend features have changed. One-on-one training and video tutorials will be made available to contributors. New contributors who require new access credentials will be trained once the entire migration process is complete.

To mitigate excessive impact on department resources, the web will migrate content to the new version. If you have questions about your department’s involvement in the web migration process, please send them to the web team at mkhaira@csustan.edu.

During the migration, departments may continue to request website updates by emailing webupdate@csustan.edu.

Web Content Management System

The new Stan State website will continue to use Drupal as the content management system (CMS). Drupal is a web-based CMS for the University website. Our 2014 site was built on Drupal 7; the new site will be on Drupal 8. There will be a slight learning curve for contributors who have been updating their department sites.

Migration Process for Departments

During each rollout, we will be following the steps below to launch the department sites: 

Plan (responsibility – web services & site owner)

Review timeline and steps
Prepare web content for migration (complete audit worksheets) 

Input content into CMS (responsibility – web services)

Wireframes if applicable
Content freeze, unless urgent

Go live (responsibility – web services)

Confirm site meets the web standards and guidelines
Launch the site

Train (responsibility – web services & site owner)

Sitewide Elements

Menu/Utility Bar

This menu, a mobile-first design, conveniently organizes the website into categories of most accessed information for students, faculty and staff.

The menu utility bar provides a search field and a set of resources links that give access to a variety of important online assets, including the campus directory, myStanState portal and the Library site.

Additional resource links are accessible under the mega menu (“hamburger” icon) to keep the page uncluttered and to facilitate categorization of the links in a way that helps users find information. Consolidating the resources links in the mega menu also makes it easier to expand the list of links as more digital resources come online.

Footer
The footer contains important links to common resources on campus, with the search box repeated.

University’s New Homepage

Elements of the University’s New Homepage

Rotating Hero Carousel
Now our homepage will feature images and videos that will promote current stories and content that reflect our University brand pillars and resonate with target audiences.

What’s Going on at Stan State
This element provides content from upcoming events based on 25Live and the latest stories.

University Stats/Explore Stan State
Share these University stats and rankings that help define our institutional quality and inform students how we rank. The goal here is to welcome prospective students and employees by inviting them to become a member of the Warrior family.

Warrior Spotlight
Our University is made of extraordinary Warriors, this section of the site will highlight our Warrior students, faculty and staff.

Get Social, Connect with Us
This element provides content from recent Stan State social media, sharing our campus life, upcoming events, latest stories and how to support our students.

A Glimpse of 2 Locations & 4 Colleges
Our motivation here is to help educate visitors about our two locations and our four academic colleges.

University Audience Specific Pages

Please stay tuned for walk-through videos for each of the following pages.

Students Page
The Students page provides students with key information and links in one convenient location.

Faculty Page
The Faculty page provides faculty-specific information, resources and links in one convenient location.

Staff Page
The Staff page provides staff members with key information and links in one convenient location.