In the screenshot above, faculty and staff are encouraged to pay attention to the areas highlighted in red, which offer quick access to frequently used information.

In an effort to strengthen recruitment and highlight research, the Office of Integrated Marketing has redesigned the top-level website University website at www.unr.edu. The new design will launch Jan. 31. It features video and a fully responsive design that optimizes use across all devices, including smartphones and tablets.

The redesign was driven primarily by data collected through Google Analytics. Of the 450,000 average monthly visits to the website, the clear majority of users are prospective students seeking information such as degree program offerings and admission information.

The data also show that current students, faculty and staff are also heavy users of the website.  Those internal audiences are largely interested in a quick way to navigate to other websites such as MyNEVADA and WebCampus. The "Quick Links" are certainly popular-but of the 32 links contained within quick links, only four of them accounted for 99 percent of the traffic.

Knowing that internal and external audiences have different needs, the redesign of the website has two parts:

-- The Nevada Today website has been redesigned to serve as an "internal homepage" for students, faculty and staff. It contains an expanded list of quick links as well as the news, announcement and event information it has always provided.

-- The Homepage has been redesigned to showcase the University as an attractive option for prospective students, both nationally and internationally. The redesign retains most of the existing navigation at the top of the page, including options for search, directory information, and highly trafficked quick links.

In the screenshot below, faculty and staff are encouraged to pay attention to the areas highlighted in red:

-- A link to Nevada Today offers access to all quick links, news and event information

-- The three icons in the top right allow for search, directory information and quick links, respectively. It should be noted here that the search function of the website has improved dramatically over recent years and is the most efficient way to find information. Using well-chosen keywords, users should be able to get directly to information they want, rather than a series of tedious clicks.

Questions and feedback regarding the redesign can always be submitted via the "Website Help" link in the footer of the homepage.