Sigma
Nu Announces Newly Redesigned Web Site
Sigma Nu Fraternity is pleased to unveil
its newly redesigned web site, still located
at: www.sigmanu.org.
The look and feel of the new site was conceived
with ease-of-use in mind and the end-goal
being a creatively modern, |
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yet
professionally clean web site. Upon considering
a re-design, one of the options to improve the site
would have meant eliminating a significant portion
of the content available to our members. “Instead,
we decided to make the wealth and volume of information
much easier to locate by simplifying the navigation.
Ideally, we wanted to make almost everything available
with just one click or, at most, two,” says
Jeff Feighner, Director of Marketing and Communications.
Jeff collaborated with Alsten Tauro, Director
of Information Technology, to map out the redesign
and create a better web site with improved functionality.
At the top of every page, the three arms of Sigma
Nu are represented: Fraternity, Foundation and
Fifth Point Properties, to quickly link visitors
to whichever entity is of greatest interest. Also,
at the top of every page are a “Search this
Site” button, with results driven by Google-search,
and the “I want to…” bar, which
provides direct links to the most popular pages.
This “express lane” feature is one
more way we have streamlined the site to provide
access to the information you want faster.
The home page will always feature a “splash”
story, represented by a banner image in the middle
of the page. These feature articles will rotate
on a regular basis and highlight topics of interest
to all Sigma Nus. The current article, The
State of the Fraternity, discusses progress
to-date on the 10 strategic imperatives of Sigma
Nu Fraternity.
In addition, the three-column design of the front
page is driven by AP-style headlines that fall
under the topics of: Recent News, Highlights and
Upcoming Events. “Timely, pertinent information
that our members need to know is now available
and visible on the front page of the site. When
information needs to be shared immediately about
a breaking story, the redesign now gives us full
control over posting those updates in a timely
manner,” says Brad Beacham, the Fraternity’s
Executive Director.
In the past, the web site was hosted and maintained
by an outside service provider. With the redesign,
management of the site was moved in-house. One
of the biggest factors in this decision was the
ability to make timely updates. Alsten is the
lead programmer for the site and has full control
to make updates and revisions quickly.
Some additional new features of the web site
include:
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Archives of all print and electronic
publications including The
Rock, Foundation
News Briefs, The
Delta and The
Digital Delta – always available
and accessible in one central location. |
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Improved searchability of the site, driven
by Google search. |
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Improved accessibility to download documents
and other resources from our new “All
Downloads” page. |
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Improved undergraduate chapter
listing, which allows the chapter list
to be sorted and displayed by “active,”
“dormant” or “all”
chapters, with hyperlink access to individual
chapter web sites (where known). |
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The “Tell Us Your News” section
of the site hasn’t changed; however,
with the new site design there is now a location
for the Fraternity to post relevant chapter,
undergraduate and alumni news. Our members
have always been diligent about submitting
updates; now you won’t have to wait
for the next issue of The Delta or another
publication to read them. |
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A master Sigma Nu event calendar that can
be populated with both national and regional
events, including major chapter anniversaries,
reunions and alumni events. Gain exposure
and attendance for your event by promoting
it on our web site. |
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Finally, the new site provides one-stop
shopping for Sigma Nu apparel and merchandise.
Most of our members don’t know there
are more than 150 Sigma
Nu licensed vendors across the county.
Now, brothers not only have access to each
of these vendors through the Sigma Nu web
site, but they also have the opportunity to
use the functionality from GreekQuote.com
to request a bid from competing vendors in
order to purchase the best product available
for the best price. |
There are so many new attributes of the web site
that, though it is still a work in progress, we
didn’t want to further delay its debut.
As you explore the site, please do not hesitate
to let us know if you run across a bug or have
a great idea for something we may have missed.
You can submit your feedback at the bottom of
any page by simply clicking on the “Report
A Bug/Feedback” link.
We hope you’ll take the time to explore
our new site thoroughly, and continue to check
back as new pages and content will be added as
they are completed.
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