Your Stylish New Home

NYUHome Version 5.0

By Gary Chapman

NYU Home version 5.0 is scheduled for release in spring 2005, sporting new capabilities and a fresh look in response to suggestions from the NYU community. The NYUHome team has received a great deal of input via the "Contact NYUHome" channel and, particularly influential for this release, from the Student Services Committee of the University Senate in March 2004. These suggestions included a variety of good ideas for design improvements, enhanced usability and accessibility of information, increased use of graphics, and better navigation tools.

Figure 1. NYUHome v. 4.6

Some of these suggestions were implemented in versions 4.5 and 4.6 of NYUHome—for example, single sign-on to Albert and the option of having up to 20 channels available in the HOME tab. NYUHome version 5.0 goes even further, thanks to invaluable design work from the NYU department of Web Communications and the programming efforts of ITS eServices staff. For purposes of comparison, figure 1 shows version 4.6 and figure 2 provides a glimpse of version 5.0, as presently envisioned.

The basic structure of NYUHome remains the same, with groups of related channels organized into tabs, e.g., HOME, ACADEMICS, RESEARCH, and so on. But there are many differences, both above and below the surface. Immediately noticeable are design changes intended to make NYUHome more attractive, more modern, more compatible with different browsers and types of devices such as PDAs, and easier to use: new colors, button styles, repositioning of elements, and more. In addition, a new tab, NYU LIFE, has been created to hold channels (such as Ticket Central, Student Government, and Residence Guest Registration) that didn't fit well into existing tabs.

Figure 2. The current vision for NYUHome v. 5.0, featuring a colorful new design, improved site navigation, and greater web browser compatibility.

Improved site navigation and search capabilities are major goals Figure 1. NYUHome v. 4.6 of this release. The new Channels option at the top of the page shows at a glance what channels are available, whether or not they are currently visible, and in which tab they can be found. The search capability, located for immediate use in the top bar of each page, makes it easier to find information within NYUHome, about NYUHome, and out on the Internet.

Behind the scenes, a major restructuring of the NYUHome software has occurred to support these and future enhancements. Most fundamentally, the multi-frame scheme used to format NYUHome pages has been replaced with a style sheetbased approach. This change has three major benefits: more responsive page updates, greater compatibility across web browsers, and the future potential for one-click access to customized design "themes," allowing for even greater individual choice as to the "look and feel" of NYUHome. Selecting a different NYUHome style sheet will result in markedly different fonts, font sizes, images, and colors.

Keep an eye on NYUHome (http://home.nyu.edu) for version 5.0, coming soon, and be sure to let us know what you think!

Author Biography

Gary Chapman is Senior IT Architect and Co-Lead for ITS eServices.