Refresh Update

In August 2009, the Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs and Information Technology Services initiated a joint project to enhance the university’s Web presence. Since that time, we have been working with stakeholders across campus to introduce a new set of Web designs for campus.

We are nearing some key milestones and want to make sure everyone is aware of the upcoming changes:

On Aug. 1, a new look and feel will become available in UT Direct. The availability and functionality of UT Direct services will not be affected, but most UT Direct services will take on a new appearance. To learn more about UT Direct and to take a sneak peek at the refreshed UT Direct design, visit http://utdirect.utexas.edu/utd_alpha/help/index.WBX.

In September a new utexas.edu mobile site will be released. This improved mobile site responds to new innovations in mobile technology and will provide enhanced content for Web-enabled mobile devices.

In early November the new www.utexas.edu core site will be released, including a new home page, new mission-based and audience-focused pages, and updated navigation and utilities.

Throughout the remainder of 2010 and 2011 we will be working with webmasters and stakeholders to distribute new design templates across campus, support the adoption of our new look and feel, and spread our revised Web branding across the university.

This entry was posted on July 27, 2010 at 11:19 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.



7 Responses to “Refresh Update”

  1.   Brad Herrick Says:
    July 27th, 2010 at 8:35 pm

    Just a sidebar: how is the new state law for requirements for a syllabus going to be addressed? Content is below:

    The jist is “This past June, Texas governor Rick Perry signed that bill into law. It mandates that the syllabus of each course, the faculty member’s curriculum vitae, student evaluations, and other information all be posted on the Internet by the fall 2010. The bill also requires that this information be no more than three clicks away from the institution’s homepage.”

    The article is at: http://www.popecenter.org/news/article.html?id=2252

    Thanks,
    Brad Herrick
    Chemistry

  2.   Jason Craft Says:
    July 27th, 2010 at 9:58 pm

    Hi Brad,

    There will be a link added to the homepage providing access to syllabi, CVs, and student evaluations in compliance with HB 2504. This link will actually be added in advance of our redesign, as the law goes into effect August 15, and it will be preserved in our redesigned homepage. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have additional questions.

    Thanks!
    Jason Craft

  3.   Brad Herrick Says:
    July 28th, 2010 at 8:10 pm

    Jason,

    So on http://www.utexas.edu there will be a link to another page (that’s one click!) where within two clicks they can find my course? Who would actually upload the necessary files…and be able to upload changes…without overwhelming someone/some department?

    Thanks!
    Brad

  4.   Jason Craft Says:
    July 28th, 2010 at 10:32 pm

    Hi Brad,

    Your description of the navigation is roughly correct. The upload and management process for these documents has been distributed across campus and is being coordinated by the Office of the Registrar. I’d be glad to work with you on finding the appropriate contact in the College of Natural Sciences and getting details on how this process is being managed in your college. Again, feel free to drop me a line.

    Thanks much,
    Jason

  5.   Micah Burnett Says:
    November 11th, 2010 at 3:16 pm

    In early November the new http://www.utexas.edu core site will be released, including a new home page, new mission-based and audience-focused pages, and updated navigation and utilities.

    Has the release date been rescheduled?

  6.   Jason Craft Says:
    November 15th, 2010 at 9:43 am

    Hi Micah,

    The release of http://www.utexas.edu was moved just a couple of weeks in order to allow time for some improvements to design and process. Our release has been scheduled for next Sunday, 11/21.

    Thanks,
    Jason

  7.   Daniel Hawkins Says:
    December 1st, 2010 at 3:50 pm

    Hi,

    I really like the redesign of the core site http://www.utexas.edu, but the utdirect.utexas.edu still needs a lot of work. Honestly, most of the changes I would make to the utdirect website are things that were implemented in the core site, both in terms of functionality and appearance. I understand that they serve very different purposes, but nevertheless, UTDirect looks and feels like the ugly stepsister of the main site. Basic functionality like searching on UTDirect is almost useless – isn’t there some way of including a Google custom search like on the core site?