The University of Kansas unveiled a new home page on Jan. 16, 2008, just in time for the new semester.

The redesigned home page has some of the same features as the old one, such as the e-mail, Blackboard and “A-Z” links. However, it now features a new design and a scrolling slide show called a “billboard,” which features large pictures and links about various news stories.

Todd Cohen, director of University Relations, said that the new home page was six months in the making. He said the old home page was very unique, but not dynamic or interactive enough.

“The web evolves very quickly,” Cohen said.

Although Cohen would not comment on the cost of the new home page, he said that a group designed the new home page internally at University Relations. The group began with a calendar that eventually evolved into the billboard feature now online.

Cohen said that they are trying to give every feature story its own video and audio parts, but that aspect of the home page is still evolving. He hopes that eventually every story will have several multimedia parts and that the main page will have built-in video and audio.

A story about student volunteer work in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward is the most multimedia-heavy one up right now.

According to the University’s Visual Identity Web site, the billboard will feature eight multimedia news stories that visitors can navigate through. The stories will follow general themes such as campus beauty, outreach, diversity, research, and major events on campus.

Cohen said the new home page was designed to help prospective students be able to see themselves at the University.

The Visual Identity Web site also states that the new home page is designed to give a better idea of what happens at the University day to day.

According to the Web site, “the goal is to create a sense of place—a place current students, staff and faculty can be proud of and a place that prospective students, staff and faculty will want to be.”

The redesign only affects the home page. All lower-level pages, like departmental pages and news releases, will still follow the old KU template.

The home page was released on the same day the KU e-mail servers went down, but Cohen said the two events were not related.

“It was just a weird coincidence; an unfortunate coincidence,” Cohen said.

Two KU students said they liked the new home page.

“I was only on there for like 10 seconds, but it’s fine by my standards,” said Jeff Close, Prairie Village senior.

He also said he’s heard good things from other students.

Jill Aspleaf, Overland Park sophomore, said the new homepage was different, but still had all the same links.

She said she also liked the new billboard feature.

“I like the pictures. They have some pretty ones on there,” Aspleaf said.

Cohen said a digital media group within University Relations puts the feature stories together, but that they are also open to ideas.

­— Edited by Patrick De Oliveira