Laying Out Our New Global Nav

We’ve been hard at work doing a lot of research and under-the-hood work to make some major changes to the web site. We hope you’ll find the new layout and wayfinding more useful and intuitive over the long term, but we understand that you might be confused about where some links have gone.

The new global header for evergreen.edu

The new global header for evergreen.edu features five main links: Home, Academics, Campus Life, Costs & Aid, and Admissions.

Dissecting the New Header

Much of our global navigation is the same. (That’s the list of links at the top of every Evergreen page.) There are a couple new items worth noting, though.

  • The header is now primarily geared toward explaining all about Evergreen. Home is where you’ll discover what makes Evergreen a unique college to attend.
  • The Academics section talks about just how it is we go beyond classes, majors, and grades.
  • Campus Life is all about non-academic life at Evergreen, including living and playing. The former Athletics tab has been moved under this page.
  • Costs & Aid breaks down tuition costs and how you can get scholarships and other aid to help cover those costs.
  • Finally, the Admissions tab covers everything a prospective student needs to know about applying to Evergreen.

We’ve also moved a few of the previous navigation tabs around.

  • Athletics has been moved to its new home in Campus Life.
  • Directories is still in the header, under the search field.
  • In case you were looking for a job here, Employment has been moved to the footer.
The new search area

The new search area now features links to my.evergreen.edu and Webmail.

My, My, my.evergreen.edu

We used some tools to find out what current students and faculty & staff were clicking on in their respective pages, and by far you were all going to my.evergreen.edu and Webmail. We’ve made it super easy for you, because now you can find those links at the top of every page, right underneath the search bar.

Another item in that area is a link to Directories, where you can find the lists of faculty and staff that you need to get in contact with.

Small screen profile view

On smaller screens, press the profile icon for links to my.evergreen.edu and Webmail.

Small screen search view

On smaller screens, press the magnifying glass to reveal search tools.

Going Mobile

Our goal is to have all pages mobile-ready by July 2014, but several pages have already been optimized for your phones and tablets. We’ve tried to keep as much of our content exposed as possible, because our hope is that you’ll get a consistent and predictable experience, no matter your device.

In the case of the header, on small devices, we’ve moved a few of the items behind some toggles. Pressing the magnifying glass icon will open up the search and directories, while the user icon will reveal my.evergreen.edu and Webmail.

The rest of the global navigation will continue to appear more or less as it does on your desktop computer.

Continuous Iteration

This is just the start for some big changes to come. We’re chugging along, and making continuous updates to keep Evergreen’s website up-to-date with the latest innovations. We hope you’re finding what you need, but if you notice any bugs, please send them to us and we’ll try to get it fixed as soon as we can.

8 thoughts on “Laying Out Our New Global Nav

    1. Justin McDowell Post author

      Olga, thanks for your input. We decided that it would be worthwhile to have Evergreen’s other locations available from the homepage, so we have added those links under the “About Evergreen” heading. They are also available from the navigation menu on “About” and “Academics” pages.

      Reply
  1. Robert Morais

    Hello,

    I am interested in the choices you have made to the college website. I do like the idea of creating a site that is easier for mobile. I think it is wise to make things easier to find and see on the site, so thank you for this.

    However I am concerned about the professional look of the website. I liked the old site because it looked more like a traditional college website. The name of the college is very small, and needs to be bigger. Most colleges have their names big and bold on the front page so visitors know what site they are looking at. The format is not appealing, and looks like a fake site or a cheap online college website. I attend this college and I would like the college to understand that while a conservative looking website does not reflect the colleges culture, it is however important to a vast majority of people, and could affect people choosing the college. Advertising is important, and a front page that looks like this does not seem very inviting.

    I hope I have not been too harsh, but I feel the college should know about my opinions and concerns.

    Reply
    1. Justin McDowell Post author

      Hi Robert, thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. We’re just getting started on new changes to the web site. This is going to be a long process that will take us well into the next year, but in the meantime, we’re moving one step at a time.

      The current homepage is an interim design, so it will not look like this forever. We’re doing a lot of research and testing right now to make sure the changes we’re making communicate effectively to prospective students. Like you said, advertising is important. Hopefully when we’re ready to roll out the next iteration, it will be more in line with your expectations (and while the logo flexes a bit with the size of the device, it will get a little bigger when the homepage goes “mobile-friendly”).

      Trust me, we’re just as eager to get things right as you are, but sometimes these changes need to fall like dominos, in a deliberate order.

      If you have any other concerns, please don’t hesitate to send them our way. We are listening.

      Reply
  2. Gus

    Hey,

    Replying to the comment above: I do agree that the name of the college should be bigger. But when it comes to a more “conservative” website I am not in agreement with Robert. Yes, other major State College websites may look a little more conservative, BUT that is not true to most private schools that have a similar program to Evergreen. Look at Bennington College, Sarah Lawrence College, College of the Atlantic. Very respected interdisciplinary private colleges. Robert says he recognizes that “a conservative looking website does not reflect the colleges culture¨ but later mentions the importance of advertising. If the website doesn’t reflect the culture and essence of the college, that would be false advertising. Keep up the great work, and make sure that our website stays as creative and “cool” as our college 🙂

    Reply
  3. ARS

    I have noticed that there is a significant difference in the look of the website, and consequently my ability to navigate the website, when I use Google Chrome versus Explorer. The website is more attractive and I am better able to find what I need in Chrome. I apologize if my comment has already been mentioned by others.

    Reply
    1. Justin McDowell Post author

      I worked with ARS to determine the problem, and it turns out that Internet Explorer’s Compatibility View was turned on by accident. If you feel like the new web design isn’t quite living up to its potential, you may want to ensure that it is turned off. In the address bar, there is a broken page icon. If it’s blue, you’ll need to turn it off. Simply click that icon and it will turn gray. That should fix the problem.

      If you are using an older browser, like Internet Explorer 7 or earlier, you will need to upgrade, because we no longer support these old browsers. If you are using Internet Explorer 8 or 9, we highly recommend upgrading, anyway. Internet Explorer 10 is the latest version of that browser, or make the switch to Firefox, Chrome, or Safari, which all have excellent support for new technology and are available on both Mac and PC.

      Reply
  4. Laura Grabhorn

    If I were a prospective student of color, or a prospective faculty member of color, how would I easily find the college’s long-standing efforts for diversity?

    While the links can stay in Academics, Campus-life, Institutional Research, etc. it would be helpful to people who find diversity an important quality in their college life or career to find easy pathways to information on fields of study that fit things like African American Studies, Native American Studies, languages, gender and orientation, etc.

    It would be helpful to know that there are student clubs/organizations that include Pacific Islanders, MECHA, NSA, UMOJA, Women of Color Coalition–even though any prospective student can click on the assorted links and eventually find them.

    First People’s Advising, faculty and staff of color, that we have a tribal liaison, the Longhouse, Native programs at Evergreen would be useful too.

    Reply

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