Fisher gives Furman an on-line facelift

Furman.edu - Furman's on-line link to world - will debut a new look this summer.

Ryan Fisher, who joined the university in September as Web Development Director, has been working with a team of students to redesign and reconfigure the existing site.

The new site should be posted sometime in June. While the content of furman.edu will remain roughly the same, Fisher says that the new site will feature a consistent design. A "wrapper" will be incorporated on all of the site's primary pages that will make furman.edu easier to navigate.

"The most obvious improvements to the new Web site will be its look and the consistency of its design," says Fisher. "There will be new features like the ability to search through press releases, and we're focusing on better access for the disabled with the use of more plain text."

The new site will include an alumni/career network that will allow alumni and students to register on-line job search openings. Aside from English, the site will be available in four languages - German, French, Spanish and Italian.

"I looked at several thousand other university web sites to get ideas, and from there I started working on a series of designs. Greg (Carroll, vice president of Marketing and Public Relations) and Furman's administrative council are giving me feedback on the redesign."

A native of Charleston, S.C., Fisher graduated from Clemson University in 1999 with a degree in marketing and worked as the Webmaster at Bi-Lo before joining Furman. Since arriving on campus Fisher has designed Furman's 175th anniversary site (www.furman.edu/175) and helped launch engagefurman.edu, the new Admissions page. Engagefurman.edu features a video, updated campus tour, on-line freshman diaries and panoramic shots of the campus.

Fisher is also working with John Roberts, director of internal and electronic communications, to develop an Intranet homepage. Access to this page, which would include features, campus events and public announcements, would be restricted to faculty, staff and students.

So, how does a one-man shop handle all of the day-to-day tasks of Web site maintenance and still have time to create a multitude of new sites? Fisher has a staff of students who take their job as seriously as he takes his.

Fisher says that in the past student workers in his area had the same basic skills and the same responsibilities. A master in "design," he's decided to make changes, saying, "I plan to have four students who specialize in a certain area - copywriting, graphic design, html/layout, and programming - and to have them work together as a team to tackle projects. I enjoy working with students because they're so enthusiastic."

-- Aynoka Bender