It is Sunday morning and the Web Communications team met to ceremoniously retire the old MU site and proudly launch the new one. Very few problems to report at time of launch. We will closely monitor the feedback we receive and continue to tweak and improve in the coming days.
If you have comments about the new site or anything you need to report, email me at webeditor@missouri.edu
It's Friday, the last work day before the site launches this weekend. I will have to say, on a personal note, the staff here in Web Communications have done a phenomenal job of completing the work on the MU Web site redesign. In the past couple of days, I've had the opportunity to talk about the project with reporters from KOMU and KBIA. In the editing process, it always looks as though this project is somehow a "one person show." I wanted to take the opportunity here to make sure that the people who shouldered most of the load with this project were identified by name and thanked personally for the great work they do. If the site is successfully launched and enthusiastically received, it's due to their efforts and excellent work.
Niki Stanley has been the project lead for the MU redesign. She serves as the assistant director for Web Communications, but, she is also technically skilled, a creative designer and uniquely talented as an information architect. Most of the research that led to the improvement in the information structure of the Web site has been her work. The original design that serves as a "wrapper" around the information was also her work. What can you say about a person who can really do it all? Words aren't enough, but, thanks for being the consummate professional and inspiring the rest of us to do our best work, too. This is truly your most impressive project to date. Well done!
Josh Nichols is the newest member of the Web Communications staff and he really hit the ground running. Working with Niki, he assisted with many of the design elements of the site and "other duties as assigned" including fixing our ailing MAC so that we could continue to use it for testing. Thanks, Josh. We really appreciate having you here. You're a great asset to the team!
Jason Rollins is currently up to his neck in the content management implementation. Although he's helped with various tasks as needed in the buildout of the new MU site, his real work will be seen in January when the MU site relaunches in the content management system. Thanks in advance Jason for the long hours and detailed work you'll be doing in the coming months to make the Mizzou site easier for all of us to manage.
Christine Deane, our student recruitment information specialist, has really pitched in to help with copyediting and writing when we've needed her. She has a keen eye and such a willing and collaborative nature. What a help she's been! Thanks, Christine!
To the MU Web Developers, PR Council, University Affairs staff, IAT Services and other individuals who have helped with providing information, stories, photos and a good eye to help us catch mistakes, we thank you. This has truly been a campuswide project.
We're almost there. We'll launch the new site between 10 a.m. and noon on Sunday, July 30th. We hope we've done our jobs well--we certainly tried our best.
We have been busy sharing previews of the mockups of the MU site with many groups on campus. After receiving some great feedback and making a few adjustments to ensure the site meets all our needs, we are ready to share these with a broader audience.
Remember, these are mockups and not a fully working Web site. The text is still being written and revised--it is not the final copy and the links you see are not complete on each of the second level pages.
You will be able to view all of the second level page mockups in the left-hand navigation. However, only the current students and the faculty/staff gateway are available for view at this time. The main photo illustration will be a rotating feature in the working site (if you click on it now you'll get an idea for how this will work).
Enjoy your early peek at the work in progress! http://ua.missouri.edu/muredesign
