University Communications and Marketing's Web team serves as the starting point for departments and faculty members across campuses that would like to take advantage of the university's content management system to develop their own Web sites. Currently, templates, which integrate with the institutional Web site’s redesign and support the university’s visual identity program, are available at no charge.
Redesign Underway
Kent State University is in the midst of both a redesign and a rearchitecture of the technical environment for the university's Web site at www.kent.edu.
Phase one, redesign of the home page (pictured at right) and approximately 200 other pages within the university's online presence, will launch in late September. Level one pages, such as landing pages for the About KSU, Academics, Admissions and other sections will be modeled after this landing page one mock up. To see an example of an "Information For" page, see page 4 of this pdf.
Phase two of the project, migration of all remaining www.kent.edu Web pages, will continue through February 2010.
As a result, there is a temporary freeze on development of new Web sites. This freeze will be lifted in October, at which time client counsel will be provided. Also at this time, the university community can tap into never before used features of our content management system, from content reuse and tagging to application development.
Next Steps as You Approach Your Web Site Redesign
In the meantime if your department or college Web site is not yet tied into CommonSpot, you can begin your preliminary work now! Scan the template options below. The wireframe links are basically diagrams of the coming templates that will be made available to departments and colleges. The mock up shows the wireframe with placeholder content that will help you visualize how the page will look with supporting images and text.
You can still work on your architecture and mapping, typically 70 percent of any Web site project, now through October. Then when October arrives, you can begin working on the actual site build.
Coming Templates
- Option 1
- Option 2
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- Home page wireframe (pdf)
- Home page mock up
(note: administrative units will not be required to have the left-hand navigational element labeled "Information For")
- Option 3
Academic departments, please note: in all design options above there will be required left-hand navigation elements different from the Schools & Departments entry that appears in the mock up. For an example, see page 11. The list will include: Undergraduate Programs, Graduate Programs, Faculty Profiles.
Contact Information
For those of you interested in pursuing maintenance of your Web sites in this easy-to-use system, please contact Lin Danes, manager, electronic communication and Web content services, via e-mail at ldanes@kent.edu.
Access to CommonSpot is provided as a courtesy of the Division of Information Services.