Redesigning Your Site
for a Better User
Experience
By
Sylvia Nicosia
Director of Web Programming & Development
Farmingdale State College

Two Major Web Redesigns Since 2011
2012 2015

Right After Going Live in 2015...
 Admission Inquiries
down 22%
 General Information
inquiries down 14%
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
2014 2015
Admissions
General Information

The Secret For Our Success
1. COMMUNICATION
2. Smart Content Contributors
3. Right Tools
4. Awesome Team
5. Time

5) Time
T A K E Y O U R T I M E

4) Awesome Team
• VP for Institutional Advancement
• Senior Director of Communications
• Director of Web Programming &
Development
• Creative Director
• Digital Media Manager
• Graphic Designer
• Photographer
• Junior Programmer/Work Study

But most important…

3) The Right Tools

Quantitative - Google Analytics, The
“What”
• How is the audience accessing our content?
• Filters by IP Address.
• Review pages by device.
• Review landing pages and bounce rate.
• Review search queries on internal and external search
boxes.

Information from Internal & External
Audience for all Navigation

Qualitative Data to Backup
Information Architecture
Data collected through
“Contact Us” form for a
period of two years.
farmingdale.edu/about/contact-us.shtml

Data Analysis
 Over 3,000 submissions reviewed.
 Repetition dictated location for
navigation.
 Categories became the areas for the
navigation system:
 Global, Local, Left Menu, Top Landing pages, FAQ page.

Data that provides the “Why”

Give Users What They Need…
 Search Tool
 A-Z Links
 FAQ Page
 Back To Top Button
 Global Navigation
 Secondary Navigation
 Left Menu
 Footer
 Campus Directory
 Faculty Pages Not What
They Want!!

How?
Goals from Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis:
1. Concentrate on a simple design/layout that
WORKS as intended.
2. Provide most sought information within reach,
one and two-click max from any page.
3. Provide tools to navigate and find any
additional information.

Final Information Architecture

Global Navigation – Top Links
 Most viewed FSC pages for internal and external audiences.
 15 most popular pages from Google Analytics in dropdown,
grouped according information from contact us form (i.e.
Admissions, Orientation).

Next 35 Popular Links Went to Landing Pages
General information about admission to
Farmingdale, regardless of department.
Specific information about the admission
process, from the Admissions office.

Secondary Navigation
 Top 5 links from both internal and
external audiences, regardless of device.

Footer = General Information
 Important information from the
institution.
 Calls to action

FAQ Page = Repetitive Data from
Contact Us Form
 Repetitive
inquiries ended
up on FAQ page.

Anything Else: A - Z Links Page
Plus:
 Global & Local
Search Box.
 Dynamic Back to
Top button for easy
navigation

2) Smart Content Contributors
 Make them smart by teaching them right!
 A Year and a half of constant training to
prepare them for a new Website and a new
version of our CMS.
 Mandatory workshops from 2014 to 2015.
Those who did not attend lost publishing
privileges.

Content Migration, a Team Effort
 Content Contributors worked closely
with the Office for Institutional
Advancement cleaning content before
and after migration.
 A second revision of content underwent
a week before going live.

1) Communication
Image Source: http://jameswooddesign.blogspot.com/2011/04/star-wars-lego-campaign-poster.html

“Communication is the key
element of a successful and
timely CMS implementation”
- Marcel Ayers, Director of
Implementation, OmniUpdate
 http://blog.omniupdate.com/posts/2015/best-practices-for-implementing-a-cms.html

Constant Communication with Campus

Results…

Data from 2014 & 2015 shows…
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
2014 2015
Admission to Farmingdale
Alumni Relations
Career Development
Commencement
Financial Aid
International Students
Orientation
Other/Unsure
Police (parking)
Registrar
Student Accounts
Transferring
Use of Facilities

Tracking User Behavior Through
Goals with Events

More Goal Conversions

Happier Content Contributors :D

Empowered With ONLY What They
Need
 ALL Content Contributors with Level 1 Toolbar
 Only 5 users with HTML out of 133

Yay
 Choice of RED or GREY text
 Choice of BLUE or GREY background
 Additional icons added on a single basis
 Too many icons gave users way too many ideas…

Nay - Absolutely NOT to the Following:
1. Restore Auto-Saved Content
2. Underline
3. Strikethrough
4. Indents
5. Alignment
6. Font Family
7. Font Size
8. Font Color
9. Background Color
10. Insert/Embed Media
11. Special Characters
12. Cleanup Messy Code
13. Show/Hide Guidelines/Invisibles
14. Show/Hide Block Elements
15. HTML
16. Code Protect
17. Form Tools

Content Contributors
Are NOT Designers
“Make something sweet
with your content”

Here’s Your Toolbar

And the Result is This…

And Leaving Their Directory Like This:

Wouldn’t it be better…
Tell them Exactly What to Do
and Give them the RIGHT Tools?

Here’s Your Toolbar

The Result:

And Their Directory :D

Before with Full Toolbar:

After “Enhanced” Toolbar

Before…

After…

Before… After…

Before… After…
= Paste as Plain Text ONLY

Give Them The Tools To Do Their Job
farmingdale.edu/ou-training/snippets.shtml

To Wrap Up
5. Time: Don’t rush.
4. Team: Detach yourself.
3. Tools: Research & test. Support.
2. Content Contributors: Empower them!
1. Communication: All levels, at all times.

Questions
???

Contact Information
Sylvia E. Nicosia
Director of Web Programming & Development
@synicosia
sylvia.nicosia@farmingdale.edu