The Sierra Nevada Research Institute has a new, modern look thanks to a recent upgrade. The university’s oldest research institute is the latest to migrate to a new responsive template that allows for better interaction with audiences through mobile-friendly and accessible design.
The External Relations Web Team manages 290 campus websites. This year, the four-person team has migrated 75 websites to the new format; 47 more were in process as of Dec. 21.
SNRI Executive Director Armando Quintero is excited about the changes.
“The new search engine allows visitors to find information quickly,” he said, “and we are looking forward to feedback from faculty, students and visitors as we continue to make the site more useful for everyone.”
Though Web Team Manager Amy Lozano-Smith tells all clients that “content is king,” the responsive template allows campus websites to seamlessly retain their design on devices of all sizes. The new layout also includes a new web color palette and wide photo rotators that showcase stories, events and news. By site owner request, the team can add import feeds from both thenews and events websites relative to their areas.
“User experience is important,” she said. “If a website design frustrates a user, they aren’t likely to return to the site – a loss for them and for us as an institution.”
Lozano-Smith’s team is pushing hard to get all 290 websites migrated early in 2018 so the campus can move forward with its plans to upgrade its content management system to Drupal 8. Migration to the new template can take as little as two weeks if content is clean and current. Migrations can be scheduled online and Lozano-Smith urges all campus website managers to make sure they are in the queue by Jan. 5.
