Changes Regarding Web Site Update Requests
Early this week the campus was notified via an all-campus e-mail that the Web staff would be “unable to take on any new Web projects from November though January” given that we are in the home stretch of the redesign project.
We will continue to perform Web updates on the site that are important or critical to the business of the college. But we will push off those updates that are of a less critical nature so we can focus our full attention on the new Web site.
This is by no means an odd thing. Michael Stoner (mStoner) wrote a great post on his blog this week entitled “Timing is Everything,” which offers some insight into the amount of time it can take to redesign or redevelop a college Web site. It’s a good read and offers some details on the experiences of a few colleges that have gone through recent redesigns. And just to reference one sentence in his post, Saint Anselm is “redeveloping” its Web site (its much more than a redesign). We are deploying new CMS technology, introducing new functionality and content, and redesigning the look and feel of our site. So our project time frame has been on the longer side.
Up until this point, we have been managing two Web sites – the current live Web site and working on the new Web site. Over the next few months we need to migrate thousands of pages of content from our current CMS into our new one. This includes writing nearly a thousand new pages of content, writing profiles, selecting photography, callouts, and other new features to accompany Web pages, and shooting new photography for new sections like “Faces of Saint Anselm.” Did a mention QA testing and fixing bugs?
The volume of work to complete is often daunting and monotonous at times and we are looking forward to the launch of the redesigned site. With that said, even after launch much work will continue on the new site, including adding additional content and new features, and training faculty and staff on the new CMS — something that will require the Web staff to create a whole new set of training documentation and schedule many training sessions.
We are really excited about the look and feel of the new site and its additional features and look forward to the launch of the new site in early 2010.
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