A new dal.ca homepage and About section of 国民彩票's website are launching this week (Thursday, Feb. 29) 鈥� the first major step towards bringing the university's reimagined home on the web to life.
The launch of these sections follows three years of dedicated work and planning on the dal.ca Web Renewal Project and signifies the completion of the first phase in the rollout of entirely reimagined design and content. It鈥檚 all underpinned by brand-new website infrastructure powered by Adobe Touch UI, making Dal one of the first universities in Canada to launch a website using the new Adobe platform.
Rebuilding dal.ca from the ground up
Last year, 8 million users visited dal.ca, viewing the site鈥檚 pages over 52 million times total. This makes it 国民彩票鈥檚 largest and furthest-reaching digital platform 鈥� and the face of the university to the world.
The dal.ca Web Renewal Project aims to modernize the technology powering the website, recognizing its importance as a communication, marketing and collaboration platform and acknowledging that the site鈥檚 aging infrastructure is in need of a major upgrade. The vision for the ambitious project went beyond the technology, though, seeking to completely overhaul the site鈥檚 design and content to enhance the overall experience for the millions of people who use it each year. The project has focused on ensuring the new dal.ca is more user-friendly and accessible in its design, with streamlined content that鈥檚 more relevant and engaging to visitors.
鈥淭his project is rebuilding Dal鈥檚 web infrastructure from the ground up,鈥� says Matt Proctor, Dal鈥檚 assistant vice president of Communications, Marketing & Creative Services. 听鈥淚t鈥檚 the digital equivalent of deconstructing all the buildings on campus, and then rebuilding them brick by brick 鈥� just done digitally. With nearly 100,000 pages on our site, it鈥檚 been a massive effort 鈥� but the outcomes of improved user experience and accessibility will benefit our entire community for some time to come."
Starting with home and "About"
The homepage and About sections were selected for the initial launch because they serve as the cornerstone of the dal.ca site, providing a critical first impression and foundational understanding of the university.
Serving as the digital front door, the homepage was chosen to make a strong first impression, showcasing the university's commitment to innovation with its modern, accessible, and mobile-friendly design. Similarly, the About section was prioritized as an opportunity to showcase 国民彩票's core values, mission, and vision, offering a comprehensive overview that highlights the university's dedication to equity, diversity, inclusion, sustainability, community engagement, and global impact.
It takes a village
Stakeholders across the university have collaborated on the new dal.ca/about section, combining 14 former stand-alone websites into a single, integrated section. What used to be over 900 web pages have been streamlined down into just 347 鈥� ensuring information is easier to find and navigate. The new content was put together by a task force of six authors assembled from across Communications, Marketing and Creative Services (CMC) over the past 18 weeks.
The new instance of dal.ca was built completely in-house by the Information Technology Services (ITS) Web Team on the Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Touch UI content management system. They work