• advising.cofc.edu
• familyweekend.cofc.edu
• president.cofc.edu
• sb.cofc.edu
• trustees.cofc.edu

We have several more sites under review and ready to launch soon.  As these sites go live we will contact the next migration request based on the Website Migration Request Form.  If you are waiting to migrate, please refer to the Preparing for Migration page on the Web Development Project site.  Cleaning up your existing site can help your migration to go more smoothly.  If you have any questions, please refer to http://webdev.cofc.edu or e-mail webmaster@cofc.edu.

Dreamweaver users:

• Go to Site -> Manage Sites…
• Double-click on the entry for your site.
• Click to the Advanced tab if you are not already there. On the Advanced tab, click on Remote Info.
• Under FTP Host, ensure the setting is spinner.cofc.edu. If it is set to www.cofc.edu, you will be unable to connect.
• Click OK to save changes and exit.

FileZilla Users

Ensure you are connecting using the host spinner.cofc.edu. If you have saved a site in the Site Manager, go to File -> Site Manager…. Check the Host and make sure it is set to spinner.cofc.edu. (Also, check and ensure the Servertype is set to SFTP – SSH File Transfer Protocol.) To save any changes, click OK.

Other FTP Clients

You’ll generally want to look for the FTP host or hostname setting. Replace www.cofc.edu with spinner.cofc.edu. Please refer to your client’s documentation for how to do so.

Why?

In addition to launching a new design, the Web Development Project also launched a more robust and secure load-balanced server setup for the College’s website. Historically, Spinner has been the host for www.cofc.edu in addition to many other sites across campus. Thus, many addressed Spinner in their FTP clients simply as www.cofc.edu. When the new website went online Wednesday, we changed www.cofc.edu to point to the new server setup, which broke FTP connections for some of you.

Addressing Spinner as spinner.cofc.edu is the guaranteed correct way to access Spinner, and will work well into the future. Please direct any questions about this change to webmaster@cofc.edu.

Q: Where is the link for CougarTrail?

A:  The link for CougarTrail has been moved under the audience navigation links in the upper left hand corner of the new website.  As the new MyCharleston portal becomes available to more audiences, we will eventually replace the audience navigation links with one link to MyCharleston.  The new MyCharleston portal will contain everything that was in CougarTrail and much more in one centralized location.

Q: Where is the link to WebMail?

A:  Just like the link for CougarTrail, the WebMail link has been moved under the audience navigation links in the upper left hand corner.

Q:  When will my department adopt the new look?

A:  Web Strategies will announce when departments can begin migrating into the new content management system.  Look for something in about 2 weeks.  In the meantime we will be updating the content management system to a new version and addressing any errors with the new site.

Q:  Should I begin changing my current website to match the new template?

A:  No.  Please continue to maintain current information on your site, but please do not attempt to “frankenstein” the template onto your existing site.  Web Strategies will work with each department to migrate their old site into the new content management system and new templates.

If you have other questions, please contact webmaster@cofc.edu or provide feedback via http://tinyurl.com/lyk72m

As we have discussed in each phase of the project, the new website is purposely focused toward external audiences, particularly prospective students. The goals of this project are to create an online representation that accurately portrays the character, academic quality and high-caliber faculty, students and alumni of the College, while also making critical information easy to access. You will notice that the links tailored to internal audiences (CougarTrail, Webmail, WebCT, etc.) are now housed on separate information pages for faculty, staff and students, and are accessible with one click from the home page.

Of course, there will be a significant amount of work to do after the initial launch as we continue to migrate all the sites that are not yet incorporated into the new design. Content managers in each department and office will be identified and trained, and individual sites will be migrated into the new design over the next academic year. You will receive more information about this process shortly after the main site is launched.

It is inevitable that there will be a few bumps in the road as we implement the new site. If you see any mistakes or issues, please fill out the Feedback form at this address:

http://tinyurl.com/lyk72m

All issues and changes will be tracked and corrected.

Our thanks to the many people throughout the campus who have worked to get us to the point where we have a website that truly offers a better user experience. As a reminder, you can review the history of this project at our redevelopment web page:

http://webdev.cofc.edu

We look forward to hearing your thoughts and reactions.

Sincerely,

Mike Haskins, EVP, Marketing and Communications

Bob Cape, Sr. VP, Information Technology

Andrew Bergstrom, Director of Web Strategies

Larry Stoudenmire, Director of Web and Electronic Marketing

Jared Smith, Webmaster

John Turner, Webmaster

The launch of the new website complements the parallel launch of the College’s new portal MyCharleston as part of the BATTERY project. As we have discussed in each phase of the project, the new website is purposely focused toward external audiences, particularly prospective students, and largely answers the question “Why the College of Charleston?” The MyCharleston portal is focused toward internal audiences and answers the question “How do I find or do something at the College of Charleston?” Both will make information more easily accessible to their respective audiences.

Of course, there will be a significant amount of work to do after the initial launch as we continue migrate all the sites that are not yet incorporated into the new design. Content managers in each department and office will be identified and trained, and individual sites will be migrated into the new design over the next academic year. You will see more information about this process immediately after the main site is launched.

In related web development news:

• Our Google Mini has arrived and is installed for testing.  The Google mini is a search appliance that will help provide better search results in the new website.
• We are piloting Urchin 6 Web Analytics in preparation for the new website. Once implemented, users will be able to get detailed reports about website traffic and visitors profiles.

Once the first pages are developed, the project team will begin identifying the next group of websites that will be moved into the new design. Be on the lookout for more information about early adopters in December or January.  The presentation is available in QuickTime format at http://tinyurl.com/5hz7hd.

In the project timeline, this presentation marks the transition from the Creative Production into the Buildout, where the templates will be implemented into the College’s content management system. The estimated launch of the first pages is scheduled for January 2009.