View the latest home page mock-up.

Updates include:

• A pull-down menu example
• The ability to search OSU using osu.edu or Google.com
• Find people from the home page
• A "Top ten" list for each audience group shows the most popular/most clicked content on osu.edu pages
• The latest O-H-I-O image
• The latest "Image of the day"

Lantern reporter Allison D'Aurora recently wrote about the redesign and blog.

Check out her story, "University creates more user-friendly web site."

A sketch of a new type of content area featuring a campus event as a daily visual snapshot.

Another possibility for this is themed weeks—-perhaps football images during Michigan Week, student-oriented pictures during move-in week, maybe photos of old commencement speakers leading to commencement, research images, arts, study abroad, pretty campus images at each seasonal change, etc. (Maybe have guest curators? i.e. a "Wexner Week".)

Some OSU sites, Account Management for example, use a default template for tight consistency with the osu.edu site. The first link below is a current Account Management page. Compare the current page with the sketch in the second link.

• Account management: Current page

A sketch of content for OSU Alumni and friends

• 
  
  
  Alumni content areas
• 
  

Launch schedule (subject to change) for the osu.edu redesign...

• July '07 - Jan '08

  Sketching, Feedback, Design and Back-end refinements

• Jan '08 - June '08

  Code, Production, Refinement

• June '08 - Sept '08

  A 'Soft' launch: New pages running in parallel to existing site. Updated templates, "Nav bar" become available

• Sept '08 (beginning of Autumn Quarter)

  Launch of new site/pages

Sketches of a redesigned osu.edu homepage.

• 

  Content areas

2005-: A fixed width design for 800x600 pixel monitors. At the very top a common "Nav-bar" adopted by many Ohio State sites. Main navigation remains in the upper right, but as plain hyperlinks instead of Flash.

2002-2005: A wider layout and feature area within a somewhat elastic layout. The main navigation on the right side was flash. (Click the image to view full-size.)

2000-2002: Main content area is dedicated to a large "feature" visual. Expanded "News" content.

1999-2000: Expanded content areas, views of a pretty campus

(As seen through Internet Archive's "Wayback Machine")

1995-1999: The heady days of Netscape-only web applets

What aspects of osu.edu will change, and what will remain the same?

You can help us answer that question by telling us what you want out of your university web site.

As of now, here’s where some familiar osu.edu features stand:

* Just like before, osu.edu will be a one-stop shop for the functional: webmail, the campus map, find people, and a directory of Ohio State’s web sites.

When people hear we’re redesigning osu.edu, their first question is often, “Why?”

The many answers to that question fall under an overarching theme: Web communication is changing quickly and we’re making sure Ohio State’s home page keeps pace.

User expectations have changed a lot since 1995, when we first launched osu.edu. (See how the home page has changed since then.)

For instance:

In planning for features and content for the new osu.edu web design New Media would like to suggest a standard XML format for including links and content from distinct areas of campus into our new site. We'll be looking for input on creating a single standard XML spec for sharing links on osu.edu.

Here is an overview of the basic idea.

From the homepage we maintain a page for "Current Students." Links on this page are currently loaded into our homegrown CMS. We're maintaining links for Student Affairs, Honors and Scholars, Student Financial Aid, etc...