Category Archives: Development

umassd.edu redesign

University Marketing launched a redesign of the umassd.edu website.
Features:
  1. improved way-finding: incorporate dropdown navigation when child sections present in left navigation menu
  2. widen the site, incorporating gutters and grays for improved display on larger screens
  3. increasing size and readability of imagery and right column items like RFI forms, buttons
  4. condense user controls in order to lift site content as high on page as possible
  5. condensed user controls allow for more explicit calls to action (Tweet this page) and flexibility to add more functionality
  6. redesign the hero image incorporating more brand visual elements as well as giving the image more visual impact
  7. placing page title within content area to better associate title to content

Academic Calendar Redesign

University Marketing partnered with Online & Continuing Education and the Registrar’s Office to integrate their Academic Calendars into a single user experience.

https://www.umassd.edu/academiccalendar/

Features

  • a single, consistent user-experience
  • semesters and sessions compiled
  • leveraging the university events calendar to maintain their dates
  • the ability to display the data across umassd.edu

Online & Continuing Education homepage redesign

University Marketing launches redesign of of Online & Continuing Education homepage:

https://www.umassd.edu/online/

Features

  • Prominent, embedded inquiry form to more easily capture inquiries more efficiently
  • Program finder to allow users to browse online program offerings in fewer clicks
  • Feeding in information session events from CRM directly onto home to allow for faster browsing of what’s available in fewer clicks

 

Marketing redesign

In an effort to better serve the UMassD campus community, University Marketing has launched a redesign of their website.

https://www.umassd.edu/marketing/

Features

  • improved visual interface
  • reorganization of our guides and self service offerings

Looking ahead

University Marketing will continue to evaluate and roll-out improvements based on your feedback. Some items we are actively working on or will be in the months ahead:

  • improvement and simplification of intake process
  • redesigning brand guidelines into a user-friendly web experience

Improved Online Directory Search

In an ever-persistent effort to enhance the website experience for the end user, similar changes that had applied to the Program and Course searches have also now been applied to the Online Directory as well.

Online directory search
Online directory search before the edits

Previously, one’s only options were to search by a name or department and click the corresponding “Search” button.  Now, users are provided a field where they can enter data, or they can select from a number of filters.  Either choice will return results below immediately.  The improved search function and additional filters  is providing higher volume of expected results.

New directory upon page open
New directory with the filters expanded

Optimized web experience

University Marketing is dedicated to improving umassd.edu website performance. We recently launched several improvements to umassd.edu image processing to ensure optimal web performance across all devices and regions.

Truly responsive images

Same image will be served up in different sizes depending on your screen size.

Images have been visually responsive on umassd.edu for best display on all devices; they scale up/down. Images on umassd.edu are now set to crop down to the best-fit for that particular device. Simply put: mobile device loads an image much smaller than a desktop computer. The result is better performance on mobile devices that suffer from slow internet speeds due to data plan or signal strength.

Image optimization

Optimizing images is all about balancing file size and image quality. Images are now optimized and resized in Terminalfour without the need to rely on content editors’ knowledge of image-editing software or compression methods.

Modern formats

Most images on umassd.edu are now processed as WebP. Using WebP, we can serve smaller, richer images that make the web faster. [source] If you are using an older browser, we have jpg available to display as a fallback. This all happens without the need for our content editors to engage, just upload your single jpg image, same as before.

Content delivery

Most of umassd.edu assets are now served through a CDN (Content Delivery Network). CDN serves assets from a location nearer to the visitor, speeding up the site and improving the overall user experience. Globally distributed CDN servers ensure that regardless of where your site is hosted, its assets will be served from a location close to your visitors.

lazy loading illustration source: imperva.com

Lazy loading

University Marketing recently upgraded our lazy load engine [source – Vanilla Lazyload]. Lazyload speeds up your web application by deferring the loading of your below-the-fold images, animated SVGs, videos and iframes to when they enter the viewport. You may notice some images fade into view as you scroll down the page, that’s Lazyload!

Improved Program Search

Significant improvements have been made to the university’s program searches in the last month.  Using an updated module, the search can now filter more quickly and efficiently and with more filter options than previously.  In addition to the search within ALL programs, we currently have searches isolated to Undergraduate programs and STEM programs.

Program search before the redesign
Program search before the redesign
Program search after the redesign
Program search after the redesign