Campus Connection

On Aug. 22 UW-La Crosse will launch a more modern and user-friendly homepage. “Our new homepage will feel fresh and welcoming," says Maren Walz, UW-L’s Web coordinator. "Not only to those of us who are already familiar with the site, but also for the more than 4 million first-time visits we expect to have in the coming year." In collaboration with UW-L leadership, the campus Web Advisory Committee  combined design features from the campus community’s top three choices from a survey taken by more than 2,000 participants in the spring. UW-L's iComm team, Walz and Jacob Speer, and many Web content contributors around campus worked through the summer to bring that vision to life. "Having the input of so many dedicated stakeholders and the broad campus audience was the key to creating such a successful end result," Walz said. Along with the UW-L homepage, several of the most high-traffic subsites within uwlax.edu, including UW-L Admissions and Murphy Library and many more, will also have the updated design starting Aug. 22. These updates make up Phase I of a larger web project that aims to update all webpages within www.uwlax.edu.

Highlights of the new design include

Focus on the audience: The new homepage has been designed to offer audience-specific content. For example, on the Future Students tab you’ll notice prominently featured links to options such as “Apply Online” and “Schedule a Visit.” These changes will help every site visitor find the tools and information that are most useful to them. User friendly: UW-L’s new homepage and interior site pages feature a clean look and easy navigation. For instance, whether on the homepage or an interior page, the header and footer of the page remain consistent. This is a design feature that will become more and more prominent as more pages are updated in future phases of the project. Responsive design: A "responsive design" means the design of the page will adapt to the size of the screen where it is viewed. So, whether you’re using a computer, tablet or smart phone, the new design will fit the screen in a way that is appealing and easy to use. Touch screen navigation: While clicking with a mouse is still a common way to navigate online, the new design will improve the touch screen experience. This will bring the website up-to-date with this increasingly popular method of moving around online. UW-L’s Web Advisory Committee is excited about the new look and enhanced technology to roll out Aug. 22 at uwlax.edu. UW-L’s web presence will continue to evolve and mature as new technologies unfold, and this step is a major milestone along that path.