The New Smith.edu

The new Smith.edu is here. The home page carries the message “Empower the Whole You” and expands on that theme by presenting the topics of interest to prospective students. The site also introduces a number of features, including a global top navigation with drop-down menus, a global footer with links to popular content and a design optimized for visitors using mobile devices. Here’s a brief look at some of the new design and structural elements.

Color

The site uses colors from Smith’s marketing palette, developed in the college’s recent branding study. To ensure that all site pages are visually harmonious, and to reinforce Smith’s visual identity, each section uses a consistent color for headlines and other page elements. 

Drop-Down Menus

Drop-down menus have been built with mobile devices in mind; on phones and tablets, there is no “hover” or “mouseover” state. To use the menus, tap or click the navigation link; the menu will appear. Select one of the links in the menu, close it or continue to the landing page by tapping or clicking the page title at the top or the button below the links.

The menu color covers the current page so that visitors may focus on the content of the menu. Closing the menu with the “X” in the upper right corner dismisses the menu. 

Responsive Layouts

Pages in the new site adjust automatically for different display sizes. There are layouts for desktop displays, tablets and phones.

Mobile Menus

On phones and other mobile devices, the navigation menu compensates for the limited screen space by presenting an icon instead of navigation buttons. This icon, when tapped or clicked, opens a menu of the top navigation items. Tapping or clicking one of these choices opens a sub-menu of the content on that page, so visitors may navigate directly to content or go to the landing page.

Search

The site search is now available at the top and bottom of every page. From the top navigation, tap or click the magnifying glass to invoke the menu, and type your search query.

The site is using Google as a search engine. Search results may have a few glitches following the site launch, as Google will need to re-index the site for new pages to appear in results.

News & Offices Links

The links to the video library, the Grécourt Gate and the directory of offices are now in About Smith. Tap or click the About Smith navigation button to invoke the menu, and tap or click the appropriate link.

Audience Pages

Links to pages for current students, alumnae, faculty and staff, and parents and families are located in the top navigation bar of every page. Menus for these pages work the same way as the main navigation; tap or click to invoke the menu, then click your desired link or tap or click the page title or button to go to the landing page itself. The menus contain a list of frequently used tools, like the directory and portal, tailored to each audience.

In addition to links to popular content, the audience pages also carry the news, events and social media feeds from the home page.