New Web Site to Debut Sept. 1: pitt.edu structured “more like a news magazine than a phone book”

By Karen Jurkovic

In just eight years of existence, Pitt’s Web site has evolved into the University’s single most powerful public image.

A communication medium that is always on, the Web site (www.pitt.edu) offers thousands of facts, images, and messages and reaches more people than the circulation of all of the University’s flagship publications combined.

The job of keeping this critical resource up to date and compelling was given in May 2001 to University Marketing Communications as part of a three-year Strategic Web Site Development Initiative, which was set in motion by the Provost’s Advisory Committee on the University’s Presentation on the Web.

In December, Marketing Communications began work on what will be the most comprehensive redesign of the University’s Web site since it was created in 1994, and staff have set about giving a fresh new look to all of the site’s institutional pages—the home page and the 20 or so pages that feed directly off of it—as well as to the pages that make up some of the major school and administrative destinations.

Marketing Communications also created an extensive array of resources to help areas of the University that choose to produce or redesign their own Web pages.

And the world will get to see the results of that effort when the new look debuts on Sept 1.

“With the Web, everybody starts with the home page, so it’s got to be all things to all people,” explained Senior Webmaster/Web Supervisor John Cooper, who manages the team that developed and implemented the design changes.

Aiming for an inviting style that Cooper said is structured “more like a news magazine than a phone book,” the new home page will offer viewers one-click entry into any of 20 areas of interest—from the Chancellor’s site to a brand new array of “showcase” sites that feature Pitt history, as well as a look at life in the Pittsburgh region.

And visitors will no longer need to move from text link to text link to get to a destination.

“The new home page is a gateway that quickly funnels people to where they want to go,” explained Marketing Communications Executive Director Michelle Garraux.

Determining what those destinations are and making other key decisions about the new design were part of a process that involved consulting current Web research, including information gathered by Pitt’s Computing Services and Systems Development on how users were interacting with the current Pitt site; an analysis of what benchmark universities were doing; and the input of The Provost’s Advisory Committee on the University’s Presentation on the Web.

“The result is a site that gives the user more of what he or she wants and benefits the University by presenting a more consistent brand image,” Cooper said.

It’s also a lot more fun, said Cooper.

Adding some of the latest software technologies makes the new site more engaging for users, giving them the chance to interact with its contents, according to Cooper.

A program called Quick Time Virtual Reality allows visitors to choose a vantage point, such as the lawn in front of the Cathedral of Learning, and use their mouses to click visually through a full 360-degree panorama.

Other new features let visitors take a virtual tour of any major campus building, watch an animated photographic time line, and listen to speeches and interviews.

“We’re selectively putting these new technologies in the site where they’re appropriate and add value,” said Cooper, who’s particularly excited about the visual panorama capability and hopes to expand its use on the site over the next few months.

“By this fall, we hope to have every single campus residence hall presented in a way that a student in New York or overseas can look at a room, check out the eating areas, and see what it would be like to live here, without ever leaving his or her home desk chair,” he added.

The Web site also will continue to evolve as Marketing Communications adds more showcase sites, including one profiling Pitt people, and more revamped sites, such as the News and Information section, where visitors can find every issue of the Pitt Chronicle since it was launched in October 2000, every issue of Pitt Magazine since 1994, and the University’s news releases since 1997.

Visitors also will see a new look to some of the sites of the University’s “major destination” schools and departments—including the Office of the Provost, the University Library System, and Institutional Advancement. Marketing Communications has been working with these areas and others to redesign their Web pages.

“It’s a service we provide to anyone in the University,” Garraux said, adding that, in addition to Cooper, her staff includes a Web Designer, Web Manager, and Web Development Specialist.

For those who choose to go it alone in creating their Web pages, Marketing Communications is adding a comprehensive resource section to the new Web site. It will feature downloadable graphics, Web-optimized University logos and page templates, tips on writing for the Web, a photo library, and facts on how to do e-commerce, ADA guidelines, and a variety of other assistance.

There also will be a sophisticated Content Management System that will make it easier for noncomputer experts to put information on their sites and keep them updated.

“As far as we know, no other university offers Web resources that are this complete,” Garraux said.