The History of APSU.edu
Before you can look forward, it’s always a good idea to look back. The APSU Web site has seen many faces over the last 11 years, from a one-graphic list of links to the infamous “jumpers” of today. Here is a timeline of the changes.
Note: Some archived images may not display correctly.
Images and archived Web sites courtesy of the Wayback Machine.
1997
http://web.archive.org/web/19970709074134/http://www.apsu.edu/
The Web was still in its public infancy and load times were a major issue. Therefore, images had to be at a minimum.
1999
http://web.archive.org/web/19990208003343/http://apsu.edu/
Still very few images. Departmental pages began to see consistent header graphics.
2001
http://web.archive.org/web/20010118200700/http://www.apsu.edu/
The introduction of stylized text and landing pages gave the Web site a more personalized feel.
2003
http://web.archive.org/web/20030411010751/http://www.apsu.edu/
Adding features such as Hot Topics, Announcements and Spotlight, the APSU Web site began to evolve into a new informational medium.
2004
http://web.archive.org/web/20040715005310/http://www.apsu.edu/
The APSU Web site began to target certain groups on- and off-campus by better structuring content and removing unnecessary links.
2005-present
http://web.archive.org/web/20060805094811/http://www.apsu.edu/
A unique Web site for any university to this day, the APSU “jumpers” signified a change to more recruitment and marketing sensibilities.
So, what does the next design hold for APSU?
Feel free to leave comments on your opinions of each version of the APSU Web site…good and bad.
June 18th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
You may leave your comments here.
June 18th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
I like the 2001 layout but i think it would look nicer in this day in age and more 2008.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
The websites do seem to be getting better with each one. I’m looking forward to the new website! Go Peay!
BTW….there’s a typo under the description for the first website. It should be “its,” not “it’s.”
June 19th, 2008 at 12:06 am
I think that a “then and now” page would be really interesting. Since APSU has a rich history, maybe the page should open with some images of the way things used to be. It could morph into today! This would signify the university’s desire to evolve and meet the needs of a new and very technological world while still keeping the values of the past.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Great comments everybody. Keep ‘em coming!
June 19th, 2008 at 8:37 am
I agree that the design keeps getting better!
Great work!
June 19th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Of all the layouts, my favorite was the 2001. It seemed to give the page a somewhat nostalgic feel with a quaint/simple beauty. Still, it’s easy to see how far APSU has come in so little time!
June 19th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Wow, this blog brings back some memories! I had forgotten what it looked like back in the dark ages. I do recall the big push for consistancy amongst the secondary pages years ago. My department had a rough time catching the “Web Wave” LOL but we finially got it. Since I retired it just keeps improving. Any connection? Probably. LOL!
A quick tip of the hat to the library site. It is hands down one of easiest university library pages that I have looked at.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:34 am
We’re working on a redesign over at Vol State too, so I’ll be trolling around this blog in all that free time I’ll have.
I didn’t realize the jumpers design dates back to 2005. That was pretty innovative for the time. Even know you don’t see a lot of higher ed sites going with large single graphic elements like that. Vassar and the Admissions office at Duke do similar things, but both lack the common theme running through all the images that APSU has.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:55 am
I like both of the most recent Web sites, but think it would be nice to see a combination of nostalgia and now mixed together into the new site design.
Easier navigation will also help; sometimes users have to go way too deep into the site to find basic information. A video tour of campus, rather than still shots, would also be nice. Possibly a photo of buildings attached to the campus map to let visitors visualize the campus from off-site more fully.
What about a section of the new site dedicated to APSU history with photos and details about the development of the Peay. The idea of the “governor” is only played up in the athletic sites. Isn’t it relevant enough to use it to explain the University’s namesake, Governor Austin Peay?
While it’s nice to see happy, young students on the default page of the APSU main site, why not use the page to highlight significant special events, school-related, historically important past events, cement important relationships with our community and constituency, and introduce the many audiences of APSU to important University people and friends by profiling administrators, faculty, students, and alumni?
June 19th, 2008 at 11:05 am
What a fun trip down memory lane! I really like the site design we have now - I just heard a nice compliment about it yesterday from a transfer student and her parents!
June 19th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
This is good news! I agree with those who like the 2001 version. Although the consistent graphic in the current site is a good thing, there is something about the blue background that I have never liked very well versus those portions of the site that are not blue. I find those with the crisp red/white graphics just cleaner and easier to read. In fact, I like the header for this new blog very much.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
The “jumpers” are nice on the home page. We need more of them, and more pictures of the school (why not highlight the Ft. Campbell site as well?) and pictures of faculty, staff, and students. The A-Z index is a bit cumbersome, but far preferable to what many schools do in having to drill down thru divisions to get to departments. If consistency is an issue for upcoming redesign, I’d suggest a simple background color page with a subdued logo watermark since that would make it easier to use than CSS layout. What’s really needed are more FAQs on the front end (admissions and financial aid questions) and the back end (graduation and alumni issues), as well as some way to bring academic “communities” together, from standing committes to interdepartmental workgroups. Oh, yeah, and the fun stuff too.
June 19th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Of all the updates the last is the most attractive, engaging and fun. I have to admit that it is time to see some new faces… Given enrollment last fall hovered around 900, there are lots of faces to choose from. Maybe students involved in academic and extracurricular activities could be showcased. For example, students at work in labs, graduation, sporting events, honor society activities, waking on campus, studying in the library…you get the idea. BTW, I like the blue as compared to the plain white background from previous designs. Just my opinion.
June 19th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I like they way the new pages are when you scroll down and then grass appears. I really like that and would love to learn how to do that.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
We have big populations of traditional, nontraditional, and commuter students. More user friendly content, such as pictures and video, need to be incorporated into the website. When I am sitting in the SGA office, it would be a lot easier to show a student exactly where and what the Business Office looks like, or where Student Life and Leadership is down the hallway. Maybe take a page from Google Maps… have a way to virtually walk into buildings to see where rooms are?
While it’s nice to reflect on the rich history of APSU, we need to be innovative with how we approach the face of our “online” university. The “jumpers” were innovative at the time… how will we be innovative with the next redisign?
I like the idea of highlighting events, people, etc on the mainpage. Many universities have flash presentations of what is current with both pictures and a news story.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I like the idea of something to bring together the past and the present. While I haven’t had a lot of problems with the present design, it could use more FAQ’s. A site map of the campus would also be a real bonus, especially to us online students that aren’t on campus frequently enough to familiarize ourselves with where all the buildings are and where to park! I was in such a hurry to get to my final exam one time that I didn’t pay attention to where I was parking and got a nice little ticket! A page that shows the history of APSU along with its progress would really interest me also.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:34 am
Let me begin by saying that the 2001 website looked like crap compared to today’s site. I do not like the idea of a redesign since the page we have now works without any flaws. The only thing which should be added is a java based search engine which is intergrated into every page similar to what is found on the facebook website. Some updated jumpers would be nice. Finally, if we want to move toward the future, quit looking back to past designs. I can say as a web designer for several school systems that the best thing to do is to build new and inovative things which keep up with the new and modern trends and not look to far into the past. At my old high school, I took the website from a single page with just hyperlinks to a dynamic html look and it is finally stable in the way it looks today with java intergrated on every page.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:00 am
These are great comments. Some of your suggestions may find their way into the new design. The structure and basic content of the site has been in the works for nearly a year now. So, we hope to have a clean, usable site for all constituency groups on campus to roll out in August.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:17 am
I was the 1st APSU web developer back in the dark ages. I picked it up in addition to my regular job as an administrative systems programmer/analyst. The 1st web site ran on a VAX which is not very ‘graphics’ aware. Also our 1st site was back in the day when most users were on very slow dial up lines and speed was critical - hence limited graphics.
I’m still old school where ‘form follows function’. ‘Everything should teach’ is an educational theory. For our University, that would include our web pages. Even their design should ‘teach’ what is APSU, what is our mission, what is the purpose of this site, It is difficult to make the pages work for everyone - there are many tradeoffs involved. It is impossible to make everyone happy with the web site.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
The jumpers were a great innovation when they were introduced but are getting kind of tired now — I agree that more emphasis could be placed on images of events, people getting awards, researchers working, teachers teaching etc. I also agree that we need a “community” link on the home page — so that the people in clarksville who are not students (old or new) can enter the site and find out about all the cool things the university has to offer to them as well — business training, consulting, concerts, lectures, and so on. Our site needs to reach out to everyone — traditional and nontraditional and as a nontrad who stopped jumping years ago, I’d like to see some of us represented too!
June 21st, 2008 at 8:48 am
I am a web designer and photographer and I can tell you guys that if you really want to get with the times you need to make an Adobe Flash website. They look better, operate better, and have smoother graphics and sleek looks.
Flash is the best way you can go, period. It will also make the University look more professional.
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:00 am
Thanks for your comments, Johnathan. But I have to disagree with you somewhat. Although Flash offers many opportunities for animation and interactivity, it is also a very professionally-intensive program. By this I mean that it is not feasible for many employees to be able to update content within Flash. This can be a problem in that we have a hundred or so content managers and contributors across campus that must be able to easily update content on their site. Also, Flash is somewhat problematic as far as screen reader accessibility. However, we do choose to use Flash for most of our online video content as well as a few specialty promotions. But, for the most part, a clean, accessible, usable site is better in my mind.
But, thanks again for your professional comments.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:52 am
That is a good point you do have a lot of contributors, which would make that complicated.
June 26th, 2008 at 11:41 am
From a design perspective, the APSU website has evolved as typically as any website would. It started out as more of a list of links. Then it changed as technology changed, keeping up with the newest designs so that the viewer was able to navigate in an aesthetically pleasing fashion as possible. This history not only shows improvement, it points out that staying current with the trends of web design is beneficial to all. I do have to say the newest webpage background is nonclashing. Although I would like to see a holographic image of the campus somewhere in the site. The words do not disappear into the background which makes navigating easier. There are some dead links that need to be investigated in the History of APSU (mostly about Gov. Peay).
June 30th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I agree that the jumpers are old now, but I do really like the idea of a centrally generated template side nav bar. It really does improve the navigation and make me feel like I am in the same site. The flash idea is actually annoying really. Try navigating Chatt States site.
I think it would be cool to maybe add SOME flash content, but too much flash takes too much time…and an option to turn OFF the flash would be good.
A unified FONT choice or CSS would help as well. It looks messy when everyone does something different.
I also would love to see more stuff that linked up from our iTunes public site…videos, lectures, a “fireside chat” or two with the president. A real marketing tool–and informative. So many schools hide behind content that makes you THINK they are something they are not. Its a good place to be at APSU–I want us to show off the friendly environment and the caring instructors and staff.
July 8th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I am a firm believer in no flash for websites. Sure, it’s hip now and wow the FIRST time one visits a site, but it quickly becomes tiresome. The first incarnation of our department’s page - the art department - suffered from exactly that problem: too much flash.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I think the website in use now is great. It is easy to navigate and user friendly. If changes are going to be made, the student organizations should be have better access to more detailed descriptions.
July 8th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Enough of the jumpers! Just like the ads on TV for Heads On, it catches your eye and interest with the early viewings, but you grow weary and soon disregard it. I’d like to see a series of low, 45-degree aerial shots of the main front part of campus alternated, just like the jumpers, with wide-angle views of fall, winter, spring and summer. It would look like you’re just about to touchdown, which always generates focus expectations on airline flights. The changing seasons and foliage imply that APSU is in a state of constant change. The ever-present older buildings on the main campus imply a stable institution, steeped in a stong tradition. The juxtaposition of change and tradition are graphically represented in each shot and in the series of 4 shots. When this grows old, solicit ideas again.
Otherwise, the website is very easy to navigate.and user-friendly.
July 9th, 2008 at 3:36 am
I was born in Clarksville and played many days in the Armory that was torn down. I never went to Austin Peay,but my heart will for ever be with the school. I live in the bay area and I got the man of steel to sign my program when he was Dallas never seen him again. I am glad to see he is back with the school. was so sad to see the Armory torn down. They even filmed it. Just remember when in doubt get an enema.
The Fly is open Lets go Peay
July 17th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
The Jumpers were cool and it would be great if they could be retained somehow buried in the bowels of the site. The 2001 home page has an elegant feel befitting an Institution of Higher Learning such as APSU.
However, the newest design is compact, efficient, and sleek. The 2001 home page picture should be worked in somewhere. The picture says it all.
Also, since APSU is the premier school in the state for on-line education then it should have a website to match. I think the re-design is going a long way toward this end. Great job.
- sg
July 18th, 2008 at 9:33 am
I really love the 2001 picture, but if it were to be used I think we need to maintain having a color background. Plain white looks cheap. However I like the classic look of the picture and if it could fade into a light beige background it would look very inviting!
July 20th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I would say that it is time for a new attention getter with the jumper, which I say it is getting old. I think that it is time to also get time to have a way to just clicked on the first page where you can get the picture of the whole University where the new student can get a picture of it instead of using a color coded picture where it could get easier for them to tell what the building look like and what it is like that way it would be easier to remember where everything is and look like if they forget at their tour they have.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:38 pm
I have a quick question. What is APSU’s policy on pets in the dorms. I have a cat, would i be able to bring it with me to college?