University of Chicago Law School: The Electronic Projects Blog

The New Website is Now Live!

This morning we launched the new Law School website!

While the virtual champagne dries, the Communications office would like to extend a big thank you to all of folks who put so much effort into getting this off the ground, from our designers and developers to the folks at NSIT's Web Admin group and the many students, faculty, and staff who gave us feedback during the long and complicated process of bringing the new site to life.

Built on the flexible and robust open-source Drupal content management platform, the new site will allow staff from across the Law School to collaborate in extending the Law School's close-knit community onto the web. It encourages engagement from users by highlighting the our commitment to spirited debate, and brings to the fore our frequently updated collection of video and audio content.

The occasional bug, broken link, or misplaced file is inevitable in such a large move, so we hope you'll let us know if you find one, or if you just have comments or suggestions. You can leave comments here or on the site itself.

The Communications office is also, as a group, just beginning to unlock everything that our Drupal content-management system has to offer. As we learn the ins and outs of the system, you can expect improvements in the functionality and look-and-feel of the website.

Please let us know what you think! How can we keep improving the site?

The New Website Approacheth

As you may know, the Communications office will be launching the Law School’s new website on Thursday, June 18. The website has been completely redesigned and reorganized with usability and convenience as paramount concerns. The site is also being moved to a new, more powerful and flexible software platform that will greatly enhance our ability to engage the Law School community.

In order to ensure that the content on the new site accurately reflects that of the old site, we will be instituting a content freeze on the current site as of 3pm this Friday, June 12. This will mean that no one besides the Communications office will be able to make any changes to the Law School’s website between 3pm on 6/12 and 9am on 6/18. If you have changes that must be made during that time, please contact me (or Jenni Fry or Marsha Nagorsky if I am unavailable). If you currently have editing privileges on the Law School’s website (or would like to have such privileges), we will be announcing training sessions for use of the new software over the course of the summer.

After the launch of the new site on June 18, we ask for your help in identifying any issues, bugs, or missing content that may have gotten lost in the shuffle (due to the platform change, some web addresses [URLs] will have changed in the transition to the website’s new platform, so it’s possible that your favorites or bookmarks may need to be updated). We will provide a space for your feedback here on the Electronic Projects Blog, and we would greatly appreciate your input. While the site will be fully functional as of June 18, we expect to continue tweaking the content, organization, and appearance of the site throughout the summer, so your feedback will be vital in producing the best user experience possible.

Student Events Podcast Starts Summer Vacation

Last week's edition of "Open Minds: The Student Events Podcast" was the last one of the academic year; it will go on hiatus over the summer months and return in the fall. The Faculty Podcast will continue on its regular biweekly schedule.