.: As the head web developer for the Department of Residence Life, I was given the task to update the main site. The task was rather daunting; the site is made of almost 200 static pages that were all broken up into sections that at the time of creation made sense, but have since lost meaning. I was given the instructions to throw out the old design and navigation while retaining all the content.
.: The designs I came up with for this project varied a great deal from one another. Working rather quickly, I created a series of five layouts and sent them out to the Directors. The turn around was less then quick. As I waited, I went ahead with one of the layouts, creating the navigation back-end and transferring a majority of the content. I knew when they did come back with a layout I could easily change the layout without throwing away my code, as they are abstracted from one another.
.: After settling on one of the layouts (not the one I had chosen, but like I mentioned before, it didn't matter), I went to work making the changes they requested |  | and converting it to HTML. When we launched the new version I had expected mixed feedback. However, my expectations were not realized. I, to my great surprise, received a great deal of positive feedback with only a few constructive criticisms (mostly dealing with colour preference and typeface sizing, which were easily corrected).
.: Over all the ResLife main site redesign was a great success.
Comments
"His [Dan Beck] work is amazing. It'll easily be the best page on campus. You'll be setting the standards for everyone else!"
- Tom Fojtik (Director of Housing) to Victor Alatorre (Manager of Information and Budgets)
"This website is phenomenal! It is extremely professional and fun!"
- Amanda J. Foege (ARHD Gruenhagen Hall)
"Just wanted to let you know that the new homepage looks great! Very nice job! ... The design is great and pictures are great as well!"
- Michael Perry (ARHD Taylor Hall) |
