Wittenborg Introduces Comprehensive Website Overhaul for Enhanced User Experience

Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences has unveiled its revamped website, ushering in a new era of online exploration. This fresh digital landscape offers a visually stunning and incredibly user-friendly experience. Denis Schuh, Wittenborg's IT Specialist & Web Designer, shared insights into the development of the new website, which was launched at the end of October. 

Enhanced user experience

The website redesign is both visually striking and highly functional. The team behind the scenes focused on streamlining the design while maintaining valuable information.

"We've updated the design to meet current internet preferences, making it more comfortable and faster for visitors to find what they need," Schuh explained. 

The changes extend to various sections of the website, including the front page, news, events, web forms and programmes.
 

Technical improvements

In addition to the visual changes, the website also received technical upgrades to meet modern web development standards.

Wittenborg has always prioritised data protection and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliance, which was further reinforced during the redesign.

The website now runs on a faster server, primed for future updates. These updates will introduce integration mechanisms, automation for user-friendliness, quicker request processing and quality-of-life improvements.

"Beyond increasing our agility in adapting to new technologies, these changes will provide a faster and more reliable experience for visitors worldwide, regardless of their device," added Schuh.

Efficient website management for staff

Wittenborg considered its staff members during the website overhaul, introducing features like automated checks and user-friendly tools for editing the website.

Upcoming upgrades aim to simplify internal data processing, reduce the potential for errors, and allow staff to focus more on personal interactions with students and contacts.

An information hub and news channel

Peter Birdsall, President of Wittenborg, underscored the significance of the website's transformation. 

The website, powered by the Drupal open-source platform on secure Linux-based servers, acts as both an information hub and a news channel with articles dating back to 2010, Birdsall said.

"As Wittenborg's website has evolved into a multi-faceted platform, offering not only university updates but also serving as a news channel, upgrading to newer versions of Drupal has become more complex with site growth."

To achieve this new transformation, Wittenborg collaborated with AnyforSoft for the website's new theme and technical enhancements, including an upgrade to the latest Drupal version.

"These changes aim to boost the site's speed for international users," Birdsall explained further. 

Data further showed that about 90% of new visitors use smartphones to access Wittenborg's website. As a result, the mobile version was revamped for a smoother experience.

"Another noteworthy improvement is the ability to embed videos, reducing reliance on third-party platforms like YouTube, which may not be accessible in some regions and often require paid accounts for optimal functionality," added Birdsall. 

WUP 25/11/2023
by Erene Roux
©WUAS Press