If you’ve been to the Whitman Athletics web page within the last few weeks, you will have noticed that they have made some changes. In fact, you will probably have noticed that pretty much every aspect of the site has been either improved or changed to something better.
“The new website has a completely different look. The visual presentation is very solid and gives a better representation of Whitman athletics to the outside world. Functionally, the new website is better organized and much easier to navigate. It also gives us a true mobile web presence, which was much needed,” said Brian Griffith, WCTS representative and assistant women’s basketball coach.
A whole team comprised of a wide range of talents worked to put this new site together.
“It was very much a team effort. A group of six of us from athletics, WCTS and communications made content and design decisions as a group. We were in agreement on just about every aspect of the site. It was a very collaborative process,” said Griffith.
In comparison to the previous site, the new and improved one is more user-friendly, with tabs to direct users from their current page to any other page on the site.
“For the fans, it’s a lot easier to access the information you’re looking for. Things like records, scores, updates and things like that. It’s a lot more dynamic,” said Andrew Holt, the project manager for the redesign.
On the original site, navigation was centered around the home page and the home page only. To go to a team page from some other page, users had to go all the way back to the home page. Now, the drop-down menu bar at the top of the page provides easy access to most pages.
“My personal favorite part of the website is the drop-down screens. That may seem simple, but it allows you to get to different pages from any page on the site,” said Holt.
Coaches will also benefit from the new website as it is now much easier to update a page as new information arrives.
Beyond functionality, the overall appearance of the site has improved. In general, each page looks more professional and well-done.
“Visually, I think for the generation of visitors we are trying to cater to, it looks more like an official athletics website opposed to just an extension of the school’s website,” said Assistant Sports Director Jordan Paden, a key contributor in putting together the interview component.
The addition of a more involved video section was an important goal for the project. The team got together with the film department and its students to add a video interview section to the front page, where patrons can see players interviewed following a weekend of competition.
“We had it before, but just not the way that it’s integrated now. Being able to do video interviews and being able to have individual sports having their own pages with video, we were way behind compared to what other schools were doing,” said Paden.
The team also had to think about how the site’s audience would be influenced by the changes. There was a wide audience range that the project team was looking at. For example, for a recruit unsure about whether or not to join a program, a well-done athletics site is pivotal. Being able to easily access highlights, interviews, team and player stats, pictures and other information about a sports program can mean the difference between winning over a recruit and losing them to a better-presented program.
That said, the usual visitors to the site, namely current and previous athletes as well as parents and alumni, were kept in mind just as much if not more, as this is the consistent audience of the site.
“We definitely had recruits in mind while finalizing the site design, but we also wanted to properly showcase the accomplishments of current and former student athletes. Bottom line, the site needed to be improved, and every visitor to the site will benefit from the redesign,” said Griffith.
Check out the revamped Whitman athletics website at athletics.whitman.edu.
