ADAPTIVE DESIGN
Website Transition
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
Inspiring Innovation. Learn more at www.uwstout.edu
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
Background
• Current website was created in 2011
• Terminology: Adaptive, Responsive
• Now: 35% of NEW visitors to our site
are mobile users, two-thirds on
phones
• Our site needs to respond
dynamically to smaller screens and
devices
• Future proof?
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
Considerations
NAVIGATION
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Familiarity reigns
Hamburger menu button, the emerging standard (Facebook, Starbucks, etc.)
Prominent site search (Microsoft-70% of mobile users are task driven)
44 x 44 optimal button size for finger widths
Accordian menus
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
BEST PRACTICES
THE NEED FOR SPEED
• Slow sites lose visitors
• http://mobitest.akamai.com/m/index.cgi
• <5 seconds to connect (current desktop site: Admissions 9.39, Stout Online
6.25, Housing 4.72)
• Page speed is a ranking factor in Google’s algorithm
• Tablets are slowest to load
• Content clean up is key
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
BEST PRACTICES
HIGHER ED WEB BASED TASKS
• Want to complete a task within 3-5 clicks.
• Price information, financial aid, investment return after graduation,
academic programs, time to earn the degree, flexible scheduling
(non-traditional students), calculate price information, make inquiries.
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
BEHIND THE SCENES
• One year into our project
• Web Oversight Committee initiated
project in January 2014
• We are retrofitting our current site
• Unavoidable delays, tricky under the
hood
• How?
• Create formulas and styles for fluid
compression to smaller screen sizes
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
Priority Sites
• Home page
• Crucial sites for prospective and
current students:
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Home page
Admissions
Distance Education
Program Sites and new landing pages
Future Students
Student Services
Dining, Housing
Financial Aid
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
COMPRESSION OVERVIEW
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
MOBILE
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
MOBILE
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
IMPLEMENTATION
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Rolling implementation / soft launch
Some pages already done
Goal for completion: July 1
Web authors in each area will make the
change
– Simple layout switch in CommonSpot
– Can go page by page if necessary
– Can quickly undo to make corrections in content
• Possible ‘speed bump’ = content
• Opportunity for critical improvement
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
COMMONSPOT
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
COMMONSPOT
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
OUR COMPRESSION FORMULA
• Puts right column content below center
column on three-column pages
• One-column layouts (alumni, oie, etc) put
right column on top
• Most sites will need some content edits
• Decentralized web authoring is both a plus
and a minus
• Experiment and revise your most important
pages
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
MODERN CONTENT
• Activity and task oriented
– Who’s visiting your site?
– What are they trying to accomplish or discover?
– How can you deliver that, front and center?
• Menus are important on small screens
• Bite – Snack - Meal
• Remove extraneous and gratuitous
words, make it simple
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT
MORE INFORMATION & ADVICE
• Demonstrations February 18
– 9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
– 10:30 -11:30 a.m
– Both in 201 Millennium Hall
• CommonSpot Open Labs
(schedule: ../webdev/cs/)
• Send an email to:
webmaster@uwstout.edu