University of Pennsylvania Department of History and Sociology of Science

The Department of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania brings a cross-disciplinary approach to studies in science, technology and medicine. Graduates of the department find themselves in high demand in fields such as law, government, medicine, business and journalism.

The Challenge

The previous website had evolved over the years, created and maintained by a couple of faculty members and an ever-changing cast of student staff. The department was ready for a new design that clearly defined the identity of different academic programs while still keeping them under the department banner, a better framework for organizing their content and an easier way to keep the site current.

The Solution

Our solution began with a design template and style guide provided by Penn’s computing services department. The original template relied heavily on tables and the use of Javascript for simple image replacement.

We recreated the Penn templates, this time with semantic XHTML for structure and CSS for presentation. By using Web standards best practices, we decreased page file size, increased search engine exposure and laid a solid foundation that will make it easier to incorporate future changes and enhancements.

After adding a few graphic embellishments to the basic design, we layered the templates over a customized content management system (CMS). Now faculty members and staff can easily add new pages and make changes to the website—no special technical knowledge required.

The final site gives all of the programs within the department a consistent look and feel that is also aligned with Penn’s branding. With the new CMS, faculty and staff can easily add new announcements, create and maintain faculty pages, and update course listings to better communicate with current students, prospective students and academic peers.

Overview

Services: graphic design, CSS and XHTML templates, custom CMS development, limited information architecture
Launched: November 2006

About

Nanomonkey, LLC is a small consultancy, founded by Michael Prell, that makes websites and provides consulting and expertise to optimize the Web experience through editorial services, design, usability and Web application development. Read more.

Contact

Nanomonkey, LLC
465 W. Ellet Street
Philadelphia, PA 19119
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