Weekly re.web Podcast: Bette Davis Sets Expectations

Episode nine of the re.web podcast is called "Don't ask for the moon, we have the stars!"
Links to the re.web content within the W&M on iTunes U site:

• subscribe to podcast (does not require iTunes)
  


• download episode nine (does not require iTunes)
  


• download the transcript for episode nine (PDF, does not require iTunes)
  

posted by Susan Evans

Drum Roll Please

The most loyal readers of this blog know that three possible designs for a new W&M Homepage are under consideration. We've been dying to show you the three options and today, we're doing just that.

Show me the three design options :)

posted by Susan Evans

Join our Facebook Group

We decided it was time ...

http://wm.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8023846788

posted by Susan Evans

Weekly re.web Podcast: Dear Santa

Episode eight of the re.web podcast is called "Making a List and Checking It Twice."
Links to the re.web content within the W&M on iTunes U site:

• subscribe to podcast (does not require iTunes)
  


• download episode eight (does not require iTunes)
  


• download the transcript for episode eight (PDF, does not require iTunes)
  

Our weekly podcast will resume after the holidays ... tune in on January 3, 2008.
posted by Susan Evans

Tough Choices

What if it came down to this...

The re.web project team has been compiling CMS product specs, grilling vendors, running references, and bugging our friends at mStoner and Global Image for their opinions on CMS products.

You may be wondering:

Have you guys selected a CMS yet?

Well, "not yet" is the best answer we have so far. But here's something we've discovered:

Perfection is elusive!

Since November, I've been explaining some of the features we're looking for in a CMS. It's a lot of information, and the direct benefits are often hard to visualize. But we're doing our homework, building spreadsheets, and seeing many different approaches to get at the same result.

In doing this research, we've found that no single product is "the best" in every category. Here's an example:

There's a product we've seen that has a super-easy interface for the average content editor to make updates. But when we finally had the opportunity to get hands-on, we found out that this slick experience is only for folks using Internet Explorer on Windows.

So we thought we'd survey our web editors. How many could possibly be using Firefox, Opera, or Safari? Turns out, it's close to 50%. Does that rule out the super-easy product?

Maybe, if this were the only pair of issues we had to weigh. But we need to compare the complexity of building Templates, ease of reusing content, and many other factors.

Our goal over this next week, before we leave for break, is to come up with a plan. Not just a plan for weighing these criteria, but a plan for involving some other folks around campus to help us wrestle with these issues.

There really is a lot going on behind the scenes right now. So far, many of you just have our word for it. Watch this space over the next few weeks and I think you'll start to see much more tangible evidence!

For those who are interested in how our Web editors compare to the rest of the Web, here are recent statistics on browser usage. And here's Wikipedia's info about the second browser war.

posted by Andrew Bauserman

A Sneak Peek

The air was electric with anticipation as tens of thousands of rabid fans weaved their way past hacky sack circles, t-shirts sales, and long Porta-John lines descending on a crowded stage of speaker stacks and the ultimate in pyrotechnics…

Ok, well not exactly.

Actually it was Blow Hall room 311 and this week a lucky few got a sneak peek at the new look for the W&M web. But it was “electric”. We have been anxiously waiting for this day and mStoner did not disappoint. Mark and Patrick presented three design concepts to the groups and the prevailing notion- we cannot go wrong with any of the three. The concepts were created by three different designers and covered the full spectrum of what many consider to be the expectations of the W&M community- from traditional and conservative to bold and playful. The attention to detail was obvious and their professionalism true to what we have come to expect.

While the concepts differed in style there were important similarities:

• a lot of W&M student and campus imagery
• an accurate and carefully crafted Information Architecture
• simple and helpful navigation
• support of web standards
• ability to implement comfortably in a CMS
• spiffs

What are spiffs? I didn’t know either. They are special interest features “with an extra ‘f’” and all the designs made use of them on the top and secondary (a.k.a. landing) pages.
It was obvious that mStoner listened carefully to everyone they met during their recent intake sessions. To those of you who participated in the discussions, thank you again- I believe you will find your ideas and opinions were a great influence.

Beyond the sneak peek presentations and initial feedback collected here, mStoner is conducting usability tests and surveys of our three concepts with early decision W&M students and with high schools juniors. It is comforting to know that they too are committed to making our web presence a true source of tribe pride.

posted by Mark Windley

Weekly re.web Podcast: Did I Say That?

Episode seven of the re.web podcast is called "A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words."
Links to the re.web content within the W&M on iTunes U site:

• subscribe to podcast (does not require iTunes)
  


• download episode seven (does not require iTunes)
  


• download the transcript for episode seven (PDF, does not require iTunes)
  

posted by Susan Evans