Tuesday, February 19, 2002
 

WRITER: Heidi Murphy, 706/542-5172, hmurphy@uga.edu
CONTACT: Carol Watson, 706/542-7365, cwatson@uga.edu

UGA SCHOOL OF LAW'S WEB SITE WINS AWARD

ATHENS, Ga. - In early February, the University of Georgia School of Law's newly redesigned Web site, www.law.uga.edu, received recognition by winning an Award of Excellence in the CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) District III Advancement Awards Program.

The Web site won the "silver" award from a total of 20 entries and is now included in a special display in the CASE III Archives at CASE International.

One of the redesign team's leaders, Carol Watson, was thrilled when she heard the results of the contest.  "We were pleased with the outcome of our redesign and have received lots of positive feedback from site visitors.  However, it is nice to know that our site stacks up well against other institution sites," she said.

"For those who have not had the chance to visit our redesigned site, I invite them to do so.  I think they will be pleasantly surprised with what they find," she added.

The objectives of the redesign were to:

•  Provide a uniform design with consistent and clear navigation throughout the site.
•  Comply with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility standards.
•  Formulate a low-band width design that is easily viewable via dial-up connection.
•  Develop an aesthetically appealing, professional design using in-house staff.
•  Incorporate the following features which were unavailable on the former Web site: master calendar of events, current law school news, virtual tour of the School of Law, and e-commerce for the purchase of alumni event tickets.
•  Brand the Web site utilizing the newly created Georgia Law word mark (logo) throughout the site.

These objectives were achieved by soliciting comments from administrative staff, faculty and students; developing prototypes; conducting focus groups for input on sample designs; implementing the new design elements and organizational structure; and publicizing the new site.

 To ensure the site maintains its new navigability and appeal, a user survey will be conducted later this calendar year.

The redesigned site, which debuted in July 2001, was the result of many months of hard work by a dedicated team comprised of Maureen Cahill, JoEllen Childers, Francis Norton, Jason Pancake, Kathy Pharr, James Sherwood, Patrick Ulam and Carol Watson.

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