Simplicity. Solutions. Results.
In July 2010, updated navigation and
content will be launched to visitors of ICWashington.org, online home of Independent Colleges of Washington.
Goals of ICWashington.org
Independent colleges of Washington provide opportunity, choice, and success for students. And the organizational goals of ICW are to engage in positive public policy, develop resources for students, engage in collaboration, and promote visibility for our colleges.
To this end, the streamlined navigation and site structure hope to present information and solutions that reinforce our mission and actions within two clicks of landing on the site.
You are currently viewing one proposed version of the top navigation.
Changes and timeline
Currently all new pages and navigation live in shadow site, accessible through direct pages and the sitemap below.
In July 2010, the default navigation bars and content will be launched in new format for all visitors to the site. The old pages will not be updated, but will remain live through outside links and the sitemap.
In August 2010, when old pages are no longer receiving significant traffic, they will be permanently archived and redirected to the new pages.
--Read more about timelines and our optimization process--
Sitemap
Background
In late 2009, Independent Colleges of Washington partnered with Meta Consulting and ICW board member Nancy Bruner to examine and optimize ICWashington.org.
In analyzing traffic to ICWashington.org, we identified the top pages visited by users in relation to our key audiences.
To make our site user-friendly and manageable, we have reduced the number of pages from 79 active pages to 16 active pages, and reduced top menu and sub menu options from 74 to 38.
Pages with related or redundant information have been combined into main landing pages. For instance, information on financial aid and scholarships used to comprise nine separate pages. This has been reduced to two pages.
Introduction of the new pages in a shadow site started in April 2010. The transition period of ICWashington.org is the month of April though early July 2010. During this time, old pages will be the default, but new pages will be available through this page and the sitemap.
In mid-May, all navigation bars will be transitioned to the new format. Old pages will no longer be updated, but will remain live through October. When it is determined that old pages are no longer receiving significant traffic, they will be permanently archived and redirected.
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