The SFU Web Site Launch (and the Beta Testing Cycle)

The process of Beta Testing this site in this forum was the best way to get public feedback on a web site that receives more the 450,000 hits on a monthly basis. The previous www.sfu.ca home page, acted as a portal or entry point for all departments, services and areas of the Simon Fraser Campus, which now includes Burnaby Mountain, SFU at Harbour Centre and SFU Surrey.

The process of developing an updated look to the www.sfu.ca home page was a combination of creating/maintaining a 'look and feel', as well as developing solid functionality and excellent usabilty. These issues, as well as other potentially hot issues were researched and discussed during the early stages of the development process. These documents outline the reasoning and approach our team developed for the creation of this project. We tried to implement the whole process in a way that was as inclusive as possible with as many of the parties that are affected, however in a project of this magnitude, it has been impossible to include everyone. For these reasons, we presented the project to the public for their viewing and feedback before the initial launch.

The redevelopment of the SFU Burnaby home page, created ramifications for the 'family' look of the two sister SFU sites, at Harbour Centre and Surrey, so variations were also been created and are represented within the Beta Test site for the other two campus web sites.

The current launch of the new www.sfu.ca site includes feedback from all those that submitted data and opinions on the form and function, the look and colours, the fonts and type sizes, as well as usability issues reflected through navigation from the home page to second level pages. We welcome quality feedback that helps make the transition from the old to the new as painless as possible for the public users of www.sfu.ca.