UMBC's New Homepage: Fall 2000

UMBC's New Homepage
Fall 2000

If you're reading this, then you've already discovered UMBC's new homepage. Why did it change? Basically, because you asked for it.

Based on a lot of user feedback and testing, it was clear that sometimes the homepage wasn't. Specifically, users wanted to find key information, such as a clearly labeled search function, a direct link to phone & email directories, as well as to the graduate school and administrative departments and campus services.

At the same time, the new homepage needed to be consistent with the rest of UMBC's award-winning website, which was totally redesigned in 1998 to meet the following goals:

Focus on information needs of all users
Improve ease of use and navigation
Improve and maintain a consistent UMBC identity throughout the site.

In addition to affirming these goals, the new homepage gives users a fresh look at UMBC and provides new opportunities. For instance, the center gallery of campus images provides a sense of the people and energy that is UMBC--something external users want to see more of throughout the site. Also, the Featured Site directs users to timely or interesting content on the site that is more than a What's New mention, but doesn't warrant a permanent homepage link. Finally, the top navigation bar is more prominent, and should help users find frequently used information.

Content analysis and navigation were developed by UMBC's emedia team, which consists of staff from the Offices of Institutional Advancement and Information Technology. And special thanks to Jeanne Ivy and Dan Bender, the original designer and programmer of UMBC's old homepage. They've moved on to other web worlds, but temporarily returned to ours for some nostalgic sleepless nights.

We hope you like the result, but know that you'll let us know either way. :-)

John Fritz
Coordinator of Web Development
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
410.455.6596 or fritz@umbc.edu

Summary of Research & Testing

Annual online user survey

Spring 2000 (361 respondents, April 10-28)*
Spring 1999 (361 respondents, April 27-May 26)
Spring 1998 (241 respondents, March 3-31)
* Note: Includes summary of all online surveys to date.

Spring 2000 UMBC website usability study (available upon request)

Developed by UMBC's Information Systems Department
54 participants (students, faculty and staff)
Focus groups, usability testing, task analysis, etc.

UMBC Web Site Effectiveness Study (June 1999, Lipman Hearne, Inc.)

Analysis of 750 college-bound HS students looking at UMBC's admissions page. UMBC's admissions site was specifically compared with the University of Binghampton.

Ongoing, informal benchmarking against other higher education websites

Higher education web summit at University of Buffalo (July 2000,)
MIT (July 1999) and University of Chicago (July 1998)
Active participant in a higher education web leaders listserve
1999 Analysis of Higher Education Homepages

UMBC Web Traffic Analysis (www.umbc.edu/emedia/stats/)