Changes to the ualr.edu website will enhance the user experience through new features that include an expanded menu and updated primary navigation structure.

The upgrades, which will appear on departmental-level UALR sites April 24, are the first phase in a complete redesign of the university’s main digital presence. The new menu is being released in beta mode on those sites to elicit feedback from the campus — students, faculty, staff, and administrators.

The new menu features two distinct areas, one for UALR audiences that includes current students and employees, and another for external audiences such as future students, alumni, and members of the community.

“We wanted to refocus the entire site network on informing our new visitors, potential students, students, and alumni about UALR while maintaining accessibility to the tools needed by faculty and staff,” said Dan Shisler, director of digital strategy.

“We realized that to do that we needed to create new content areas to improve the experience for both our internal and external website users and visitors and make it consistent across all departmental sites. We really want potential students to easily find the information about attending UALR that is most important to them.”

The top area, which is for the campus community, can be accessed from the “lines of text” menu icon to the right of the search box. That opens as a drawer to display links to e-mail, Blackboard, BOSS, and the A-Z Index. The area also includes quick links for commonly visited pages and timely messages or events for employees and students.

The primary navigation area includes content wells: Admissions, Academics, Campus, Connections, Research, and About. Each well opens to display links, featured content, or coming events relevant to each particular area.

In addition to the expanded menu and updated navigation, the menu is adaptive, meaning that it adjusts or reorganizes content to fit the device a person is using, whether it’s a phone, tablet, or desktop computer. The menu is also accessible for those using screen readers.

Because this menu is in beta mode, constructive suggestions from the campus community are welcomed. More additions to the menu are in development, including customization of the internal menu by audience type based on login. For instance, a student who logs in will see different links and messages than a faculty member will.

The menu is just one part of the larger road map to make UALR’s entire digital presence more cohesive and audience-friendly. That project began with the introduction of a standard template for most ualr.edu sites and will grow to include a redesigned homepage as well as top-level sites.

To learn more about UALR’s digital domain, go to the Department of Digital Strategy.

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