Web Services

Web Services (WS) serves as the primary online marketing and branding of the MCC College website while providing leadership for the College. Web Services enhances the College's public presence while supporting and promoting web publishing and the use of web technologies.

In addition to web management and support services, Web Services provides custom software development of web-based applications (marketing based, student focused, administrative focused, etc), copy writing services as well as web content management system (CMS) implementation and maintenance.

Web Services, under direction from the Office of Institutional Advancement, designs and maintains the MCC Website common pages (homepage, maps, schedules, calendars, sitemaps, etc.), Student support pages, Athletics, College Administrative, Business pages, Degrees and Program Marketing, Curriculum and Transfer information sections, certain internal tools and access systems, and Employee Intranet sections of the MCC website while consulting and assisting with the creation and maintenance of other MCC based webpages.

Web Services staff provides consulting and support and are available by appointment. We are not available for personal websites. We encourage you to seek training and guidance from the Center for Teachng & Learning (CTL).

The Design Process

While you are working with us we will guide you step by step through the design or redesign process. The steps below are a basic overview of our approach to webdesign. Click each secion below for more information.

Step 1: Clarify the Goals for Your Site

During our initial meeting and planning stage we will look at the navigation, readability, and accessibility of your current site. We will ask you how you would like to improve the site. We can also analyze your site traffic to determine what your visitors are looking for and how they currently use your site.

Step 2: Organize Your Navigation

Our staff will examine your content from your audience's perspective and help you develop the most logical navigational structure.

Step 3: Enhance Your Content

Some sites are informational, some are persuasive, and others are a combination of the two. We can examine your audience to determine the right balance for your site and we can assist you to edit content with this balance in mind.

Step 4: Make Your Project More Manageable

We can help you keep the project on task by breaking the work into smaller, manageable activities. This will help you avoid typical pitfalls and allow us to develop your site as efficiently as possible. If you have a deadline for the project please let us know during the initial meeting.

Step 5: Develop a Design

WS will use your input and themes from any of your existing brochures to create the design that best represents your group. Your site will be most successful if you take a "big picture" approach to webdesign. Remember that small details like colors can be changed. You can evaluate the effectiveness of your design by asking yourself the following questions:

• Does this design best represent the public image of my group?
• Has this site been designed in a way that allows my office to use the site for most, if not all, marketing efforts?
• Will this design handle future changes to the site?
• Is there any current print material that needs to reflect the webpage design (or vice versa)?

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Throughout the Project:

There are many other things we do along the way to improve your website and make the site design process easier for you. Here are a few examples:

• Empower you
  The maintainer of your site: Throughout development, our staff will encourage you to learn basic web-editing practices so that your site can remain up-to-date and accessible long after your work with us is complete.
• Add special features
  WS can also create online surveys, interactive forms, database applications, and much, much more. These elements can be developed with assistance from the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) or the Student Technology Assistant program (STA) and may require some specialized knowledge for you to maintain.
• Make your site accessible to all users
  Your site should contain built-in features for persons with disabilities as well as code that formats your Web pages for printing.