• Very soon we will introducing you to our new Web Content System Manager, who will ultimately become your first point of contact for all Ingeniux training requests, questions, trouble-shooting, and more.
• We are also about to begin testing Version 6.0 of Ingeniux. This version will work for both Macs and PCs. We'll be testing this out and will release it to the campus as soon as we are convinced that it's stable.

Now, back to the training.

To get started this fall we will be offering two levels of training:

• Basic Training: ideal for new users, and anyone who wants a refreshed (things might have changed since you first went through training
• Working with Featurettes: learn to insert our new "featurettes" in the right hand column of a page, and learn to create your own featurettes. This is a new powerful and flexible tool for enhancing your web pages.

All training sessions are held in the Library Lab, lower level one, Bertraind Library:

Basic Training

Tues. Sept. 16; 1:30 – 2:30
Tues., Sept. 23;  3:00 – 4:00
Tues., Sept. 30; 3:00 – 4:00

Working with Featurettes

Wed. Sept 17; 10:00 – 11:00
Wed., Sept. 24; 10:00 – 11:00
Wed., Oct. 1; 10:00 – 11:00

For additional upcoming training, see the full schedule:

Fastspot (our design partner) visited campus on April 4 with three design concepts. As a result of this presentation, the Web Design Advisory Group recommended a clear direction, and since then we've been refining and enhancing the design, exploring how the navigation will work, what the sub-pages will look like, and testing out the overall impression on prospective students and their parents.

Our goal with the new website is to increase Bucknell's national reputation by conveying to prospective students the quality of the academic programs and the breadth of opportunities that exist here. We're aiming for a site that is at once elegant and youthful, intellectual and active, focused and uncluttered.

For a sneak preview of the new Bucknell and Bison Athletics home page designs, log in to myBucknell and look under the "Spotlights."

We welcome your feedback.

FAQs:

Q. When will the new site go live?
A. We are anticipating being ready to go live with this design in late July.

Q. Will I still be able to make updates to my department/program web pages?
A. You can continue to update your pages using the Ingeniux Web Content Management System as you currently do. There will be a period of time before we go live when we will have to block everyone from making updates. As soon as we know something more specific we will announce this to the campus.

Q. What do I need to do to use the new design on my department/program web pages?
A. Not a thing. When we implement the new design, it will cascade throughout the whole website. You won't need to do anything.

Q. Other than the look, how will my site change?
A. All of your content will remain. However, you will have some new optional features available - such as an area for a photo gallery, and a spot for featuring an alumni, student, or faculty member. We wii also be standardizing the format of the faculty/staff contact page, as well as the detail page for individuals.

Q. Will I still use Ingeniux to update my web pages?
A. Yes. In the fall semester we will resume instructional sessions for Ingeniux, teaching you how to use new features.

Q. Tell me again why we're redesigning the website?
A. The current site has been up for over four years now. During that time, web technologies have improved, and the way that people interact with the web has evolved. The creation of strategic documents like The Plan for Bucknell and the Communications Strategy, coupled with the research we did last year to gauge Bucknell's national reputation, means we now have a clearer idea of both our audience and our message. The new design reflects this clearer vision.

Q. If the main Bucknell website is geared towards prospective students, what about current students, faculty, and staff?
A. Library & Information Technology is currently evaluating every aspect of myBucknell with the goal of dramatically improving both the content and the functionality. Because an internal audience is seeking very specific information, we are committed to making the portal the most convenient place to find what you need, while we develop the main site with the external audience in mind.

Q. What about Alumni?
A. We recently launched B-Link for Alumni. If you haven't seen it, take a look. Alumni can log-in to a site tailored to their specific information needs: e.g. a directory, career information, clubs, class notes, and other content that is unique for Alumni.

Think "web site redesign" and most of us probably think visually -- images, colors, fonts, layout -- all the elements that make a web site sing. In truth, much of the work goes on behind the scenes. Before you can build a house, you must draw up detailed blueprints, prepare the ground, lay the foundation. The same holds true for a web site So here's what we've been doing "behind the scenes."

The Foundation

In collaboration with Fastspot (our web design partner) and the Web Advisory Group, here's what we've been doing:

• Discovering. In order for Fastspot to learn about Bucknell, we shared critical research and strategy documents, held small focus group sessions, and reviewed pros and cons of competitor and other web sites
• Developing a project timeline. Since we are aiming for a "sometime-in-July" launch, our timeline was built backwards from the launch target.
• Developing a creative brief. This document articulates what we want to convey about Bucknell and what sort of emotional response we are aiming for. It also establishes our priorities, such as highlighting academics before everything else, and considering prospective students as our primary audience.
• Reviewing and revising the site architecture. The architecture of the site is the underlying structure that the design is based upon. We've reviewed the entire organization of the web site multiple times with an eye towards clarity and simplicity.
• Creating wireframes. Independent of design (any look & feel), and analogous to a blueprint, wireframes allow the design firm to organize their ideas spatially, blocking out areas on the web page for features and components.

The Structure

What's next?

• Fastspot is conducting a content audit. This will help us determine what belongs on the public site and what belongs in myBucknell, as well as out of date content, new content that we should create, or content that we should revise more forcefully for the web.
• Fastspot is visiting campus on April 4, 2008 to present round one of their design concepts. They will be presenting three design concepts for the home page, and two design concepts for the main athletics site.
• Based on our feedback, Fastspot will present the next round of designs later in April.
• Once the design is finalized, the technical and programming work will begin as we do the work necessary to implement the new design in our Web Content Management system.

You might be wondering....

• Will we share the designs with the campus? Yes, although we don't know yet exactly when that will be, we will share the selected design concept before the end of the semester.
• What impact will this have on my web site? In most cases, a minimal impact. Some architectural changes will occur, which means sections of the site will move. Url's will NOT change. We will, however, be reaching out to some specific departments to work through some architectural improvements.

What can you do to help?

• Review your section of the web site The time to sort out content that belongs on the public web site from content that belongs in myBucknell is now! So much of what we currently have on the public web site is too detailed for site visitors. The external audience does need to know what services, programs, and eventswe have, but they do not need the nitty-gritty details. Save that for the Bucknell community. If you could take a good, hard look at your site's content, we can help you publish that information to the right place.
• Think 'global'. Visitors to our web site don't know, or necessarily care about, how we organize ourselves, or who is responsible for what. When they come to our site, they are looking for information. They don't know which office or department "owns" that information. The web site is like a classroom without walls. We should be thinking about how we can best present the information and not be overly concerned with developing independent web sites.
• Ask questions! Have a concern, suggestion, or idea. Now is the time to communicate with us. At this point everything is still on the table. Use the feedback feature on this page, or send an email to webdevelopment@bucknell.edu.

Additional Services: Beyond this training, we are available to assist you with evaluating the content of your site, reorganizing the material for improved usability, designing custom graphics, revising your text to make it web-friendly, developing multimedia, and other specialized requests. For more information, email: webdevelopment@bucknell.edu.

Coming Soon: We're evaluating the next release of Ingeniux and will make it available to the campus as soon as we confirm that it's stable. We also hope to be able to announce the availabitlity of the Mac version soon.