In response to the demand for websites that can be readily consumed via smartphones and tablets, the homepage for MissouriState.edu has transitioned to a mobile-adaptive format. In addition to serving mobile consumption, the new format provides a rich, multimedia experience that includes more photo and video and heightened social media integration.

We encourage you to try out the new homepage on your desktop computer, tablet and phone to see how it adapts to different screens.

Notable enhancements

• Athletics now has a presence in the top navigation of the website.
• The main feature area is more prominent, allowing us to spotlight very high-level content in a variety of ways – including photo and video. Color themes will coordinate with each feature’s theme, photography or selected media.
• All feature areas can now be rotated according to a fluid timeline, one that’s responsive to important Missouri State news and events.
• The social media activity stream continues to have prominent placement, providing users with real-time snapshots of the Missouri State community.

While the overall structure of the new homepage is established, incremental changes will continue to occur as we keep Missouri State’s Web presence in line with evolving tech trends and user expectations.

Feedback and questions

We invite your feedback. Please send us your thoughts.

In response to the demand for websites that can be readily consumed via smartphones and tablets, the homepage for MissouriState.edu is transitioning to a mobile-adaptive format. In addition to serving mobile consumption, the new format provides a rich, multimedia experience that includes more photo and video and heightened social media integration.

Missouri State’s mobile homepage will officially launch on Jan. 4, 2015. You have the opportunity to preview it now. Please note that the website looks different when you access it on your desktop, mobile phone and tablet.

Notable enhancements

This preview version features sample content and is an accurate representation of the new design’s tone, look and functionality.

• Athletics now has a presence in the top navigation of the website.
• The main feature area is more prominent, allowing us to spotlight very high-level content in a variety of ways – including photo and video.
• All feature areas can now be rotated according to a fluid timeline, one that’s responsive to important Missouri State news and events.
• The social media activity stream continues to have prominent placement, providing users with real-time snapshots of the Missouri State community.

While the overall structure of the new homepage is established, incremental changes will continue to occur as we keep Missouri State’s Web presence in line with evolving tech trends and user expectations.

Feedback and questions

We invite your feedback. Please send us your thoughts.

We look forward to launching on Jan. 4!

An increasing number of prospective students are accessing college websites solely through mobile devices.Consider these stats from the 2014 E-Expectations report:

• Both students and parents overwhelmingly said they used smartphones for their mobile browsing.
• Nine out of ten seniors and eight out of ten parents have access to a mobile device.
• 71 percent of seniors and 45 percent of parents have looked at college websites on their mobile devices.

This means that University websites must be optimized for consumption on smartphones and tablets, and we will be transitioning the homepage to a mobile friendly design over the next several months. The new design will have specific layouts for desktops, tablets and phones.

Rather than introduce all of the changes at once as with past redesigns, we plan to slowly change major sections to match the new designs, allowing a more gradual transition where we can adapt to feedback.

Global masthead changes

Today, we updated the website global masthead to a more touch-friendly design. The new masthead is a further modification of the changes we introduced in our initial mobile templates.

This change will take some time to complete. Web Press sites will see the new masthead very quickly. Other sites will have a much more gradual rollout as we have time to change their templates.

As part of the change, the four major links the homepage has offered within the BearPass login tab will now be in a touch-friendly menu on every page throughout the site.

BearPass login tab on the homepage going away

On Sept. 22, the BearPass login tab will direct people to use the new BearPass menu in the masthead.

On Oct. 6, we plan to completely remove the BearPass login tab on the homepage. While it is the single most popular tab, the design methodology is not compatible with our mobile friendly layouts.

Feedback welcome

As always, we welcome your feedback throughout the process. Please comment on this post, or email web@missouristate.edu.