New City College Web site slated to be launched early November
By Nick Palm STAFF WRITER
The long-awaited arrival of the new City College Web site is due to be unveiled on Nov. 2.
The introduction of the new Web site, which was originally slated for September of this year, was pushed back to allow the fall semester to run smoothly.
“We didn’t want to disrupt the add/drop period or midterms,” said Douglas Re, director of information technology at City College. “This way we will have a ‘window of quiet’ before the next semester starts.”
Most of the new site is already up and running, although it isn’t located at the City College web address. The information technology services department has put a link to the new Web site on the current homepage, so all students can take it for a test run.
“We want people to look at it,” Re said. “We even created an e-mail account for people to contact us if they found typos or other inconsistencies.”
According to EMG, City College’s current Web site has over 20,000 pages. In order to update and redesign the Web site, most of those pages must be completely redesigned.
“As of right now, 25-30 percent of the pages aren’t yet done,” said Re. “It’s going to take months to finish all that. Until they are updated, we will be redirecting a lot of pages to the old Web site.”
The new homepage, which has clear links to all other sectors of the school’s Web site, is expected to be easier to navigate than the old one.
Tommy Lai, an 18-year-old freshman at City College, said he is frustrated with the old Web site.
“Frankly, it’s unacceptable to look at the Web site and not be able to get any information,” he said. “It really needed to be updated.”
According to their Web site, EMG’s mission is, “To make the CCSF Web site one of the leading and most distinctive College Web sites in the United States that clearly communicates educational opportunity and collaborative learning within the diverse community of San Francisco.”
Re said that EMG recommended and implemented a content management system, which is a database of templates and word processors that allow users to create web pages.
“If you are a department chair, and want to create a Web site for that department, you pull up ‘department template’,” said Re. There will be different templates for all levels of administration. Instructors will still have the freedom to create their own Web pages, without having to use a City College template, although they will be available.
Other new additions to the Web site include blogging software that will be accessible to all personal Web sites and a new search engine powered by Google.
“If I type in ‘financial aid,’ it will now find the most relevant link for me, instead of some arcane website that has nothing to do with financial aid,” Re said.
Re encourages all interested students to explore the new Web site from the current link on the school’s homepage, in hopes of hearing feedback from the people who will be using it most. Any questions, comments, or typographical errors on the new Web site should be sent to weberror@ccsf.edu.
