The web strategy team is pleased to invite the MIIS faculty and staff to preview our work in progress. We expect to be ready to launch the site publicly on approximately September 15.
Between now and then, we would like you to be the first to experience some of the new features of this site:
* Language pages (linked from the home page) offer an introduction to MIIS along with relevant dynamic content for eight languages.
* Constituency pages provide lists of the pages most often needed by specific groups.
* “Theme Pages” offer a way to navigate the site by broad area of interest. For example, the Environment page provides links to degree the MBA and MAIEP degrees, as well as to the shorter Conservation Leadership Practicum, offers a list of Environment-related news items, and lists Career resources, employment statistics, etc.
* The “sky” theme of our header photos both celebrates our beautiful location and invites people to shift their focus beyond place to a more global viewpoint… the sky touches everyone, everywhere. We are particularly grateful to Eduardo Fujii, who shared some of his wonderful sky images with us.
* The site is constantly changing and the number of possible contributors is limitless. Many places on the site invite participation in social networks, and there are many examples of content fed dynamically from a blog or twitter account, or from tagged content elements on the site itself. See the bottom of the main Careers page for an example of a twitter feed.
* The search box at the top of each page allows you to go straight to the information you need, including directory information (Just type all or part of a person’s name.)
* On the faculty page, and the offices and services page, you can simply begin typing what you are looking for, and you will be offered options from which to select.
You can access the site at http://miis2.middlebury.edu/
You can only access it from on campus right now.
We want to emphasize that THE SITE IS NOT FINISHED! You will see mistakes, omissions, empty pages, spaces where photos or videos need to be inserted, and placeholder text that needs to be rewritten. Rest assured that the web strategy team is still working hard on content, and Middlebury colleagues remain engaged in fine-tuning the CSS and the content management system. If you notice something amiss with the site, and would like to report it, please do not use the comment feature of this blog to do so. Instead, contact the individual on the web strategy team who represents the department in whose section the problem occurs. The team members are all listed here:
You can also help by contributing stories to the site. You will find some there now, but we need many more to convey the incredible diversity of interests and experiences represented within our community. Please send your stories and images to the appropriate strategy team member as well.
I like a lot of things about the new site. However, the bright lime green Header text on the individual pages really cheapens the look and feel. We have these nice whispy sky images and then this “in your face” lime green. It really turned me off and does not look professional or academic in my opinion. There are lots of other colors that would work better and coordinate better with the images and the rest of the color palette.