The Williams website is the college’s most prominent face to the world, a mirror to itself, and the place where much of the college’s work is done. With the redesign, we seek to deepen people’s engagement with the college and with each other, whether current or prospective students and families, alumni, faculty, staff, or visitors. The redesign will focus on improving the user experience. It will take full advantage of the functionality and design potential of WordPress (the college’s content management system), while making it easier than ever to maintain and administer the site. Our website serves a diverse set of stakeholders and audiences, and it should promote and support its people, programs, and unique position in the world with sophisticated design and functionality and consistent and coherent architecture and messaging.

Statement of Intent

We will redevelop the college’s homepage keeping in mind a primary audience of external users (prospective populations of students, faculty, and staff; alumni; parents; and the general public), while also serving well our internal audiences. The homepage will feature dynamic content, better use of multimedia and social media, and connections to diverse aspects of the college’s web presence. In doing so, the homepage will give voice to the community and help users encounter Williams in richer and more detailed ways.

The site’s navigation will be simple and straightforward, with no drop-down menus or sub-navigation on the homepage (analytics, survey results, and other feedback will inform navigation development). The site will feature a comprehensive, effective, and prominent search function.

Users will have the option to build their own customized dashboards using an aggregator to configure internal and external content of their choosing (something like a customized iGoogle page). Users will also be able to customize lists of quick links that will appear on various pages throughout the website. Templates will be developed for landing pages, departmental pages, and other interior pages using some consistent structure and aesthetic design, while providing individuals and departments/offices with flexibility in developing their sites.

The website will be built in WordPress using responsive design. It will meet or exceed current standards for web development, including those for accessibility.