The changes to the site are subtle in some respects, but foundational in others. The color palette and design elements have largely remained intact, while both the architecture and back-end functionality of the site have been completely revised.

After the launch of the site's first incarnation in February 2006, the team had already made a  to-do list of functional upgrades for version 2.0. Dynamic hierarchical menus to help navigate an overwhelming 2,700 pages of content were on the top of the list, as was an upgrade to the content management system (CMS). Results of an internal survey of students and faculty in 2006 revealed the need for RSS feeds and calendar integration to help ease the pain of internal communicating, so these would also be requirements of the upgrade.

Soon after Web Developer Bryan Jordin joined the team last summer, an open source CMS called Plone was chosen for the task. Like most open-source CMS solutions, Plone includes automatically generated navigation elements, integrated search, and user administration. Better than other open source options, Plone is extensible with a multitude of add-on products, fully standards compliant, and internationally supported by nearly a hundred developers around the world. Most importantly, Plone is easy to use.

The project was tackled in three phases: architecture, design and development. The team applied user feedback and survey data, as well as collaboration with Director of Diversity and Community, Giselle Martin, to determine the most useful organization of content for the diverse user base of the site. Hierarchical menus were implemented to allow one-click access to all content, resource boxes of useful links were strategically added to pages, and a powerful "live search" was integrated at the top of each page, allowing users to access content with as little hassle as possible.

Dynamic feature content was added to portal pages which highlight our impressive faculty, students and alumni and showcases the research being done at the College of Computing. Design elements, stylesheets and page layouts were revised for easier browsing and a more elegant look and feel. Tabbed navigation was added to organize related content into mini-sites, and multiple stylesheets ensure content delivery for print and mobile viewing.

As the following list will show, the upgrade has benefits for all segments of our user community. If you have any questions about any of the new features, please send an email to communications@cc.gatech.edu or contact a member of the team.

Major Improvements

• New content management system, Plone - visit the Plone website for more information

• Live search

• Dynamic hierarchical menus

• Friendlier navigation and site organization

• Sensible URLs for easy, direct access to deep content

• Breadcrumb navigation

• Resource link boxes throughout

• Feature content and people profiles browsable from the home page

• RSS feeds for all content - view a complete list

• ICal and vCal support for all events

• Tabbed mini-sites

• "Press Room" for media resources

• Multimedia library including event photo galleries, videos, and presentations

• Content work-flows for easy publishing and collaboration

• Integrated technical reports database

• and more...