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The New Smith.edu

Close-up of a student face with the slogan Empower the Whole You

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. 

A graphic showing the six colors used on the website

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. 

A screen shot of a menu showing links to the landing page

Responsive Layouts

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

A graphic showing the Smith home page on desktop, notebook, tablet and phone screens

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.

A screen shot showing the use of the mobile menu

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.

A screen shot demonstrating the link to Search

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.

A screen shot showing links to News, Offices and Video

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.

A screenshot of an audience menu showing links to the landing page