Southeast Kentucky
A New Look...And a New Approach!
Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College is taking steps to update and improve our web presence. By mid-July, Southeast’s web site will have a new look-and-feel based upon user testing and best practices in web design. These changes will make the site more attractive to everyone who visits our site.
Part of the reason for this new look is a change in the way that we market ourselves. The look and navigation of the new site is geared toward providing prospective students with easy access to the content and services that they want and expect. However, we’ve not forgotten our other audiences, and have created specific parts of the sites that are tailored to their needs.
Sitecore – A New Content Management System
Our new web site is in the process migrating into Sitecore, our new content management system. This system gives individuals who are responsible for web content more control and ownership of their content by giving them a familiar, user-friendly interface for adding, editing, or deleting content. Announcements can be scheduled to display and hide at pre-determined times, ensuring the site always contains the most timely, most accurate content possible. Content can be shared across the site or across all of KCTCS, eliminating the need to recreate content from place to place. Our new look and improved content will reflect Southeast’s commitment to being the college of choice for the students in our area of Kentucky.
The Heart of a Successful Web Site
Of course, all of this work doesn't happen magically. It's the result of dozens of hours of hard work by our committed project team. However, we don't put in these hours simply to launch a new web site. Rather, the hard work represents our fundamental committment to impacting the lives of students and communities across the Commonwealth. It's why we do what we do, and it's why we're excited for what our new web site will allow us to do in ways that we've never dreamed before.
FAQs
When is the new site coming?
Our goal is to launch the site right at the middle of July. As we get a little closer, you'll see a lot of information about the upcoming launch.
Is everything on the current Southeast web site going to be moved to Sitecore at launch?
Not at first. We started this process with a review of our current site--from this, we picked (or created) the top 50-100 pages that we felt best communicated the messages that our primary audiences--students--need to know.
Once the initial site launches, we'll be able to revisit other content and begin migrating into Sitecore. It'll take time, of course, but we'll eventually get all of our current site into Sitecore.
Will I need to change my bookmarks/favorites?
In many cases, yes. Content will be moving to different URLs (web addresses), so your bookmarks may change. We will attempt to automatically redirect as many old URLs as possible to the new ones, which should make this easier for you. Remember too that many internally-oriented pages will be moving to thePoint, so there will certainly be some changes.
With the improved navigation on our new site, plus an improved search engine and a "what's changed" page, we hope the transition will be a fairly smooth one.
Who will update our new site?
As we launch our new site, we will be allowing people to become content owners and authors. Content owners and authors will be responsible for updating the sections of the site where they are an expert. That means that the people who best understand the content are the people who are updating in for our sites and that means the information on our sites is more accurate.
When do I get to see the new design!?!
We're glad you're excited about the new design! As we get closer to launch, we'll unveil some "sneak peaks" of the site's design. We know, it's no fun to wait...but we know you'll like what you see, and the wait will be worth it! :)