How to Use the New Anselm.edu
Flash Wall
The site's new design showcases a wall of interactive stories. It was clear during our site discovery process that "stories" about Saint Anselm College and the experiences of students, faculty, and alumni sold the institution. So we put these stories front and center on our home page. The wall features interactive content, including photo galleries, videos, and audio slideshows.
Many of these new interactive features utilize Flash. We recommend that you upgrade your Flash Player to the latest version. The upgrade is free and can be downloaded from Adobe's web site.
Download the latest Adobe Flash Player »
To use the Flash Wall, simply click any of the smaller images to open a larger window. To view photo galleries, play video, or learn more about the content in the wall, just click on it.
Search
An improved search engine was among the most requested features from faculty and staff. It's often the most efficient way of finding information on the site. The search box is located in the top right corner of every page in the site. Simply, type the information you're seeking into the box and click "Go!" The new Google Mini appliance will then direct you to your desired content.
My Links
As we studied analytics from the previous site, we learned that visitors used the site to find other frequently accessed sites, such as WebMail, Citrix, Blackboard, and food menus. In the bottom right corner in the footer of each page you will now find "My Links." If you use the same computer all the time, you can now choose from a customizable list of sites that you access often. Don't see a link that you think should be there? Suggest a link.
Click on "My Links" in footer, a list of links will appear. Select your links by moving them from the right to the left side of the box. Once you are satisfied, save your selection. A "cookie" is then assigned to your computer noting your link preferences. They'll be listed in the footer the next time you visit the site.
Campus Calendar
A new, more robust campus calendar was also implemented on the new site. The new calendar allows you to subscribe to events, by e-mail or RSS, e-mail events to friends, add to your Outlook or ICal calendar, or share on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Content Sharing
Every page below the home page now features a "Share" feature that allows you to easily share content with friends, colleagues, or classmates. The new site features a little widget from "Add This" that allows you to share content by e-mail or on dozens of social media sites.
Simply, click the "Share" button and choose to e-mail or send the page to any of the listed sites.
Web Standards
The Web development for anselm.edu is a blend of best practices learned and developed by the Saint Anselm College Web staff along with methods consistent with industry accepted Web Standards. The site is XHTML transitional compliant and leverages the power of XML. Every effort has been made to keep Web standards and accessibility in mind during the development of the site.
Background
The previous Saint Anselm College site was originally launched in May 2003. Today, the site receives nearly 20 million visits each year. Given the large volume of visitors, the site is the college's largest communications vehicle and information source.
The increasing importance of Web communications compelled the college to begin a Web redesign project and select a new content management system beginning in summer 2008. During the course of the redesign project, multiple committees were formed to assist with generating an RFP, vendor and CMS selection. The project was led by the Office of College Communications and Marketing. BarkleyREI of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, provided project discovery, strategy, design and development assistance for the project.
The Web site is run on an Ingeniux content management system (CMS). Ingeniux is based in Seattle, Washington.
For more information about the project, please visit the Saint Anselm College Redesigning Anselm.edu Project Blog.