This August, an exciting day will arrive for Cal  State San Marcos as our new university website will go online. The website will be accessible from the same address as before: www.csusm.edu. However, the design and functionality will be vastly enhanced and exciting new content will be available to visitors.

The new website will possess a variety of important features. One of those features is a standardized header for every page in the website to establish a consistent look. Not only will this header contain our campus name, logo, and colors, but it will also contain consistent navigation buttons with drop-down menus, a search function, and an A to Z index of topics and destinations. With this new header, browsing our website will be easier than ever.

Another important aspect of the website redesign is an enhanced home page. This page will be the very first thing people see when they access www.csusm.edu, and it will be both visually appealing and extremely functional. The content areas on the home page will feature attractive and inviting photography and graphics, and these content areas will rotate randomly to keep information fresh and current. The mix of content on the home page will allow the website to effectively serve both our internal audience (i.e., current students, faculty, and staff) and our external audience (i.e., prospective students, prospective donors, and community members).

Finally, the new website will integrate an important feature called Cascade. Commonly known as a content management system, Cascade will allow content contributors across campus to update their pages on the website without any formal experience or training in Web design, programming, or Web development software. Basic training in the Cascade system will be offered, but if you’ve ever used a word processor or submitted data using an online form, then Cascade should come naturally to you.

To learn more about the website redesign project and get a sneak preview of the new design, please visit www.csusm.edu/redesign.