The Voice

Issue date: 3/16/09 Section: WCC News

The homepage of the newly designed WCC Web Site.

A major reconstruction of the Washtenaw
Community College Web site is in progress. The first visual evidence of this greeted students upon their return from spring break. The look, layout, and, quite simply, the entire structure of the Web site have been changed.

Web Services Manager Christopher Billick said the site remains "absolutely a work in progress." This is evident with many of the site's pages still on the old server and therefore in the old site format, but also that constant feedback from students, faculty and staff and other concerns in areas like usability and accessibility are being addressed.

Billick noted that much work has been done to the site to make it usable for people with limited motor-skills, high vision impairment and other disabilities.

Phase One: The development of the site, which is what's online right now, was tested by a faculty member who is legally blind to confirm its usability, Billick said.

However, some at WCC wish that such faculty consultations had gone further. Jason Withrow, chair of WCC's Internet Professional Department, said that while he is pleased with WCC's choice of nationally renowned Web expert Peter Morville as consultant for the site, he views this as "a missed opportunity to tap into all the knowledge and skills that the faculty have." One of the areas the Internet Professional faculty specializes in, Withrow pointed out, is usability, a major concern in the revamping of the Web site.

"I think that they hired a very good person (Morville), but had they turned to internal services I'm sure they would have gotten much of the same advice," Withrow noted, adding that he and many other faculty were out of the loop completely.

"We only knew that things were changed when they changed," Withrow said.

He also touched on the issue of making the site accessible. He noted that the site couldn't be accessed by older version of Internet Explorer that many students may have, or by Internet access via cell phones.

Billick did point out that when Semantic Studios, Morville's Ann Arbor-based company, came to advise them on the Web site, they consulted many faculty, staff and students as part of a novel-sized report on the state of the Web site and what needed to be changed.

Another element that has drawn some attention is the illustrations on each page. Many faculty and students have commented that they are cartoon-like.

"She said that they reminded her a bit of the opening to the movie Juno," Withrow said lightheartedly about one of his students.

Billick said that the illustrations were created as a way to represent different areas of WCC without using pictures. He sees this as very important due to WCC's diverse student body and views the illustrations as a way to capture that. Whereas photos, he said, aren't necessarily as ambiguous or broad.

Apart from his "one quam"- that the category in the Web site's top navigation bar called Services should be listed as an A to Z index -WCC President Larry Whitworth is very happy with the new site.

"It's boom, boom, boom," he said, gesturing with his hands. "I find it clean, simple and effective."

Whitworth believes that the Web site is, as Billick describes it as well, a "living document," that will continue to change over the next several months.

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