Toward the end of July, Sonoma State University’s website is being updated in order to provide website accessibility to everyone on any technological device.
The Creative Services department and University Affairs department areworking together to produce a modern site.
The last time the website was redesigned was five years ago.
“The last website update was in 2011,” said Sandy Destiny the director of the Creative Services Department. “Itwas only a cosmetic update,and it was not a complete redesign from the bottom up like the current project.”
The cosmetic update only brought a few new visual updates to the website but, with this new update planned, everything willbe changing both visually and technically. For example, a lot of the updates will involve updating information, and fixing different technical parts of the website.
“I’m excited about the whole website update,” said Destiny. “The system we are using is changing and that is huge.”
When it comes to the website redesign, these updates do not happen very often and can take many years to develop.
“After the initial launch in July of the home page, top-level pages, Admissions site, Newscenter and events, we will migrate the other 300+ SSU websites,” said Destiny. “On the redesign site, we will maintain a list of cited undergoing migration and a list of sites that have been moved over to the new design.”
The Creative Services department is making the website easier to use on any device. This way it will be easier for anyone who wants to access the website on any device with less issues and frustration.
Some students like Ciara Smith, a sophomore communications and media studies major thinks very poorly of the current design of the website.
“Maybe with the new redesign they can make the website more easy to maneuver,” said Smith. “The current design is also kind of bland and needs more style.”
Jon Oranje, a sophomore pre business major, has his own thought about what the new website should incorporate.
“The thing I dislike the most is the not a lot of campus events are posted on the site,” said Oranje. “It is also a bit plain but if there’s a way to add more on campus events to the site, there would be more school spirit.”
Destiny suggests that students take a survey the department has created to see what students want in the redesigned website. .
“It is very important to get survey input,” said Destiny. “The whole redesign will take around 12-18 months.”
Students’ input will be kept in mind throughout the entirety of the website redesign, according to Destiny. To access the survey, students can visit surveymonkey.com/r/HSJC7MM.