DeKALB | Students may have noticed that NIU’s home page looked a bit different Friday.

NIU launched a redesigned Web site in an effort to become more uniform and speak with one voice, said Melanie Magara, assistant vice president of public affairs.

The university also wanted to make the site more usable, so they conducted usability tests throughout the summer to see how people responded to the Web site.

“The usability testing was a central principle of what we’re trying to do, which is make user-friendly Web sites,” said Katy Whitelaw, ITS help desk web specialist.

Usability testing involved asking people to take a 10-to-15 minute test, where they were given a list of things to find on the Web site. The person is asked to think out loud so reactions can be monitored and the tester can see how the person is navigating the site, when they are getting frustrated and how long it takes to find what is being searched for. Tests are also videotaped to review later.

One of the biggest concerns with usability testing was whether there were “blind spots” on the page and if features were identified properly on the site.

Blind spots refer to areas of the site that people are not seeing. During testing, it was found that many people do not look to the far right of the page.

For example, the new design allows people to identify as a student, faculty and staff, alumni and friends or parents. Once a person identifies, they are then led to another page with links that would be helpful to them.

Matt Supert, a graduate student studying public administration, logged onto the new Web site and was confused at first, but once he clicked on the student link, he said he was able to find everything he needed. He was shocked at the Web site because he had not heard about the changes.

“If they had sent out an e-mail about it, that would have been useful in letting students know they were changing it,” Supert said.

As with all projects, the new site is a work in progress. There is still more work to do, but until it is out there for students to use and respond to, the next step is unknown, Magara said.

“This was about getting more people involved in the management of the niu.edu domain and everything that links to it and using database decision making to improve navigation,” Magara said. “It doesn’t matter what your site looks like if people can’t get there and to make sure that the information there is correct and that we have a plan for keeping information up.”