WMU launches major website improvement

Contact: Cara Barnes
Screenshot of WMU's new home page.

WMU launches responsive Web design

KALAMAZOO—Responsive design is revolutionizing the Web, and Western Michigan University is among the first schools in the country to have a system for providing responsive design across its entire website.

With responsive Web design, the layout of a page and the size of images, text and navigation aids automatically change for an optimal viewing experience, making the site easier to read and navigate across a wide range of devices from large desktop monitors to tablets and smartphones. The design is determined solely by the size of the screen, giving it nearly universal compatibility across brands, devices and operating systems.

WMU's responsive design, launched today, is now an inherent feature of the University's Web content management system, which has been online since March.

Web pages for all core units—academic and administrative—will eventually be in the WMU content management system, and all will have responsive design. There are many other advantages of a single Universitywide system.

  • Greatly enhanced system security
  • Greatly improved system performance (speed)
  • Consistent application of best practices for accessibility
  • Consistent University branding
  • Simultaneous posting of campus emergency and weather closing announcements on every page in the system

Already in WMU CMS (partial list)

Migrating this fall (partial list)

  • College of Arts and Sciences
  • College of Health and Human Services
  • Haworth College of Business
  • Graduate College
  • Lee Honors College
  • Haenicke Institute for Global Education
  • University Libraries
  • Office of Information Technology
  • Office of the President
  • Parent and Family Programs
  • Visit WMU

The establishment in 2009 of the Web Governance Council, with the authority to create University policies and standards for the Web, made it possible to implement a single content management system for the University.

For more information, contact Tonya Durlach, director of electronic communication, at tonya.durlach@wmich.edu or (269) 387-8423.