Chapman University – New Look for our Homepage

Hello Readers,

As you may know, Chapman is getting a new website in the Spring of 2012.  We are excited to announce Chapman’s new homepage, which will launch this fall, and have posted some images of the new design for feedback.

Before you take a peek at the new site, there are just a few things you need to know.  What you are about to see is not a working site.  The images below have been prepared by Barkley REI (our vendor) and reflect the appearance of the new site.  The functionality and ‘feel’ of the new site are difficult to illustrate in this format.

This design was created after several conversations between Barkley REI and the Web Core Team and was voted the best of five designs.  It was then presented to Senior Staff, who approved it earlier this month.  Simultaneously, Cascade Server was selected as Chapman’s new content management system.

Header: Global Navigation

When the rest of the new site arrives (spring 2012), this section will remain throughout as ‘global navigation.’  This fall we will start with a new homepage that will link back to Chapman’s existing site.

Middle Section of Homepage:

• The middle of the homepage will slide left and right and provide lots of real estate for interesting stories, pictures, videos, etc.
• Here is a rough example of how the sliding in the middle area would work.
• The center area will be built in three layers, so there will be an element of depth.  Unfortunately that cannot be illustrated until the site is actually built.
• The first story seen will be set in a random order so that visitors do not tire of the same landing screen.
• “Stories” and associated pictures / video (the ones inside frames) will be easily changeable.
• The design of the primary area is planned to change as well, but not as frequently as the stories.

News and Events, including the “Featured” or “What’s Happening” area:

This area will change automatically as new events and news stories are created.

• Chapman’s events management system will feed the events area.
• Both Cascade Server and “WordPress” will be able to feed the news area.

Footer:

This area will also be a ‘global navigation’ area.  Here, you will easily find links to Jobs, the Privacy Policy, etc.

Design:

Please leave your feedback here by October 15th, and remember to check http://www.chapman.edu/smc/blog regularly for updates.

Best,

-Web Core Team

**  Please leave feedback!  **