Ready… Set… Launch
Tomorrow morning we will be launching the redesigned www.anselm.edu. We do so with a tremendous sense of pride and with gratitude to many, but with an equal dose of trepidation about what we know will be some initial points of confusion.
As we launch, we know there are a several bugs still present, some areas where load time will be slower than optimal and where some graphics and content are still in development. The Website is, and will remain, a work in progress. It’s a publication that will never be finished.
You will see that some things have moved. If a link had been on the homepage for 10 years, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will still be there. Please know that no decisions were made without the careful involvement from the broadest possible number of internal and external constituents. In all cases, decisions were made according to best practices in online publishing.
People will have immediate questions such as, “Where do I find this page?” As these questions arise, we will be in triage mode, doing the best we can to respond in as timely a fashion as possible. Please be patient. The site’s search engine will not be available immediately as indexing needs to occur post launch. We’ll need your patience on that front as well.
There will be a lag time between launch and on campus training for site editors and authors. This week, you will receive dates and times for training sessions in the new content management system. We will also be instituting a new service for faculty and staff where we will have regular Web workshops (CMS labs) for those who seek to expand their skills in writing for the Web or simply to discuss a unique challenge or a new idea.
If you were interviewed for our Faces section of the Website and do not see that profile, don’t worry – it’s coming. We are juggling multiple assignments, ranging from the technical to the creative.
As noted in a previous e-mail, people should be prepared for the fact that the site is organized to correspond with best practice in user experience of our lead audience, which is prospective students. It is not organized around administrative functions at the college.
Finally, please know that a tremendous effort has been devoted to laying the foundation, reviewing technology, creating road maps for navigation, and gathering literally thousands of pieces of information and photos. Much of the technical work is and will remain invisible to the site visitor, but will be absolutely critical to our ability to build the site out in new directions.
To every person who participated in this process, from RFP review committee and CMS selection committee to those who agreed to our requests to be interviewed and photographed and those students who spent their winter breaks migrating thousands of pages of information, you all have our gratitude. Thanks especially to the senior leadership team for supporting this endeavor. The college’s lead publication will help all of us to put a fresh face on an enduring legacy.
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