Hutton Honors College

Easy. Easy to use. Easy to manage. These key words and concepts motivated the new elements of content and design of the reconfigured Honors College Web site.

Content concerns spurred the redesign. "We wanted to retire our print newsletter Honorable Mention," Honors College publications director Edward Gubar said, "and make our Web site the main place people consulted for Honors College news and announcements. So we added stories to the front page and an index to manage the stories, created an announcements page, and added a quick links box and a site map to improve navigation. Our site is now more dynamic," Gubar said, "and it looks better." (See below for more information about the new features.)

The revised site design for the Honors College Web site was conceived, designed, and implemented by new SLIS graduate student Chris Dent, senior Patrick Spencer, and Gubar.

"We made things fairly easy on ourselves by setting a few definite goals and working towards them," said Gubar. "The existing site was already quite good for our purposes but it had a few problems. I wanted to get rid of frames, increase usage, and improve accessibility. I wanted it to be easier for our staff to edit and create content. I wanted to be able to make design changes without having to do a complete redesign."

"I think Chris Dent's new architecture has done that."

Chris Dent, who (with Gubar) established the Honors College Web site in early 1994 (Dent did the technical stuff), developed the overall underlying architecture that manages the redesigned site's content. "The Web site is now designed to allow easier maintenance for both content providers and Web site designers while still providing an easy to use reference for prospective and current Honors College students," Dent said. "We divided the structural aspects of the site from the site's content," he continued. "A content person can now update information without having to worry about design. At the same time a designer can make changes to the look and feel of the entire Web site by making those changes in only one location. The new design also makes room for future changes by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to control the presentation of the text." (CSS makes it possible, for instance, to change font styles throughout the entire site by making one or two changes in a single style file.)

In addition to Dent and Gubar, senior Patrick Spencer spent many summer hours working on the Web site. (See Pat Spencer's picture and read about his two semesters in China here.) Spencer had also worked on the site during the summer of 2000 when he helped design and then mounted the Web version of the HC Bulletin. "Pat was again invaluable," Gubar said. "He really had some nice ideas, he developed and implemented a lot of the changes, got the old site ready to move, made the site map and the extracurricular montage, tested out design suggestions, and did most of the grunt work."

Honors College staff members Charlene Brown, Doreen Cole, and Jane Plaza also provided perceptive feedback about aspects of the redesigned site's usability and appearance, Gubar said.

"I think everyone will find our site more appealing, easier to use, and more informative," Gubar concluded.

Announcements Page
This page will carry announcements of matters of importance and interest to Honors College students. Look here for notices about deadlines, programs, meetings, and the like. It will usually be updated late Monday for Tuesday viewing. Time-sensitive announcements may be added at any time.

News and Feature Stories-The Story Index
The home page of the Web site will now include news or feature stories of interest to Honors College students, staff, and faculty. Readers may also access other interesting stories via the Story Index. New stories will be added on a regular and timely basis.

What's New Page
This page will provide notice of new features or additions to the Web site.

Quick Links
Located to the left of your screen on all HC Web site pages, the Quick Links box (just below the News box that contains links to Announcements, Story Index, and What's New) provides easy connections to our most-used pages. It also provides links to Insite and to honors programs at other colleges and universities, as well as a link to a new alumni page which contains class notes from the Honors College Alumni Newsletter.

Search Engine
Located at the upper left of the red naviagation bar on all HC Web site pages, this new feature allows you to search the Honors College Web site using keywords.

Honors Residential Community
If you go to Activities and Opportunities from the front page, you will see a new link to the Honors Residential Community. This site is maintained by residents of that community. It was designed this past summer by Jude Cooks. As in the past, the Honors College street sign icon will return you to the Honors College home page.

Honors College Extracurricular Activities
You can access extracurricular information from the Quick Links box or by first clicking on Activities and Opportunities above that on the red navigation bar. Notice the new photo montage on the first extracurricular page. Moving your cursor over a picture will produce a caption in the right center blank space of the montage. Try it.
The Fall Extracurricular Flier will be available online on the HC extracurricular pages for perusal and printing early in September.
This part of the HC Web site is maintained by Extracurricular Programming Assistant Jane Plaza.

Honors College Community Service Program
You can access volunteer information from the Quick Links box or by first clicking on Activities and Opportunities above that on the red navigation bar. Go here for information about volunteering and community service.
Like the Honors Residential Community pages, these pages are maintained by program participants. They were originally designed by former HC advisor Tom Shaffer. As always, the Honors College street sign icon will return you to the Honors College home page.

Honors Degree Programs at Indiana University
Accessible via Academic Information on the red navigation bar. This link provides information about the various school and departmental honors programs at Indiana University.

List of Major Graduate Awards
Accessible via Funding Options on the red navigation bar. This page provides links to every major graduate award information. Funding Options also provides links to the Honors College Undergraduate Grant Program and to other funding possibilities both undergradaute and graduate.

Posted August 30, 2001.

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