Mount Allison University has recently launched a redesigned website. While many of the photos remain the same for now, the frames around them have changed completely.
In an email sent out to the Mt. A community, Gloria Jollymore, Vice-President of University Advancement, introduced the new site to students, stating, “The site, one of our most powerful communication and reference tools, has been completely redesigned over the past year and presents an exciting new online presence for the University.” The site was launched to the public on August 30th.
The site was created by a diverse range of workers, from computing services and marketing and communications staff, to various content editors. Even academic departments and students themselves have had a hand in creating the new website, in an effort to improve and strengthen Mt. A’s online presence.
Where the old website featured multiple tab options for students to choose from, the new website has only two main tabs: one for prospective students, and one for the Mt. A community. From there, visitors can choose from another selection of options to bring them to the information they need. The style of the pages has also been updated, and a large amount of space has been dedicated to testimonials from past and present students.
“I think it’s a nice change; it’s very appealing,” said third-year student Yolanda Gallant, “I especially like the new online event calendar that announces what’s going on around campus.” The school’s Twitter feed has also been integrated into the website, as well as various online news stories about the university, in order to keep students up to date and informed.
Despite the new features, some are less than content with the changes. The new website means that current students will have to readjust to the transformation; second year music student Sarah Dykeman took to Facebook to express her discontent, posting, “[The] new Mt. A website is really visually loud and I really can’t handle myself right now.”
This anxiety is something that the University asks students to contain, as there still remains work to be done. “With further phases of the website development yet to come over the course of the fall,” Jollymore wrote in an email to the Mt. A community, “we ask for your patience as we add administrative departments to the site and fine-tune the site as a whole.”
For a look at the new Mount Allison website, and for tips on how to navigate it, visit www.mta.ca.
