CTE Webmaster
At the end of October, we launched a new CTE website. Our primary goals were to:
- make the site more accessible to mobile device users,
- update the design to feature more of our promotional materials, and
- increase site speed
Mobile
Mobile devices users are a growing percentage of those who access our site. Our latest stats show that 15% of site users visit on a mobile device, primarily via smartphones and tablets. To better meet the needs of these users, the site content now adapts to the screen width of the device being used, rather than being stuck in "Desktop" mode. Also, a "shift" menu appears at the top of the screen when viewing the site from a mobile device. Tapping the menu displays the full site menu on the left side of the screen for easier access to course content.
Design
We've updated the site design to prominently feature the current set of CTE posters. This aids us in increasing our brand awareness and helps users make the connection between our conference displays and what appears on our website. The color scheme has been modified to match what appears on the posters. We are open to suggestions on site design improvements. If you have a suggestion, let us know on the Site Issues, Improvements, Requests page or by sending an email to lt-cte@unt.edu. We want to know what you think!
Speed
Increasing the speed at which users are able to access the site serves two purposes: it helps increase our search rankings and provides our users quicker access to course content, especially for mobile. Speed optimization is one of the trickier issues of development; it's not always apparent what is causing a site or particular page to load slowly. To help with load times, we've implemented a caching plugin on the frontend to promote quick access for anonymous users, and also reduced the complexity and "bloat" of the site so that users who are served non-cached pages (i.e., logged-in users) still have a similar experience. A general guideline is for pages load in three seconds or less, but the quicker the better.
More to Come
While the launch of the new site has updated our content creation tools, making the site easier to manage, it has also brought with it new challenges. As some of you may be aware, we switched to Wordpress as our backend content management system. Unfortunately, some features that were not compatible with the new system have been removed temporarily. Rest assured that we are working on bringing these features back and improving them where we are able.
On the web side, the focus for 2015 is on optimizing our course content and encouraging user interactivity, especially via social media. Optimization of course content was partially achieved by transferring course content to a database system. Previously, the content was hard-coded into each individual page. We are working on making the system more flexible to allow additional content to be posted, as well as provide timely updates on new and updated course content. For our 2000+ registered site members, we are updating user profiles to allow connecting to and sharing content from popular social media websites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. We hope to showcase developments in CTE from teachers in the field through the latest postings.
If you have a feature or tool that you would like to see available on the new CTE site, feel free to post a comment below or visit the Site Issues, Improvements, Requests page. As always, thanks for visiting us and stay tuned!
