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Retheming Update: The New Design Has Been Approved
Our university website retheming project is now underway, and the new design has recently been approved.
This is an important step. Our current website theme is five years old. Five years may not sound like much, but on the web, that is a pretty long time. User habits change. Mobile expectations change. Accessibility expectations change. And content editors are still expected to keep everything accurate, current and organized. Naturally.
The new design gives us a stronger starting point for modernizing the university’s digital front door.
Why This Matters
The website is often the first place prospective students, families, current students, faculty, staff and visitors go for information.
A stronger website experience helps people find what they need faster, whether they are looking for a program, an office, a form, an event, admissions information or student support.
The new design is not just about appearance. It is about improving how the site works for:
- Prospective students
- Current students
- Faculty and staff
- Content editors
- Accessibility
- Recruitment
- Search
- Mobile users
- Marketing and communications
- Long-term site maintenance
A website should not feel like a maze. It should feel like a front door. Ideally, one that opens.
What’s Improving
The approved design is only one part of the larger project. The bigger goal is to build a better, more accessible and more manageable website for years to come.
Planned improvements include:
- A fresh, more modern look and feel
- A new content workflow and content moderation system
- A better menuing and navigation system
- Responsible AI integration
- Improved accessibility
- Stronger first impressions
- Clearer calls to action
- Better program discovery
- Stronger storytelling
- Better mobile experience
- Faster access to admissions information
- Improved brand consistency
- Better support for marketing and recruitment campaigns
Moving to Drupal 11
We are also preparing for Drupal 11, which gives us a stronger foundation for the next phase of the website. Drupal describes Drupal 11 as supporting structured content, workflows and content governance, which lines up with the kind of long-term improvements we need.
For editors and site managers, the practical benefits may include:
- More modern platform support
- Better long-term maintenance
- Improved editor experience, especially with AI integration
- Stronger content governance
- Cleaner development practices
- Better performance opportunities
- Accessibility support
- Readiness for future Drupal improvements
This does not mean every problem magically disappears. If only. But it does give us a better base to build from.
How This Helps You!
Improved components, better workflows and clearer menus should make editing easier and more consistent.
That means fewer confusing choices, fewer avoidable errors and clearer guardrails before content is published.
The approved design is a major step, but the full project is bigger than a new look. It is about building a website that works better for visitors and the people who manage it.