Spotlight: NCI-Frederick Redesign

Welcome to the new NCI-Frederick online presence.

The first thing you will notice about the new website is the look and feel. It’s a big change and we hope you like it. However, what’s really exciting is that this redesign has resulted in extensive organizational and structural changes that we think visitors will appreciate.

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The primary task for the NCI-Frederick Web Design & Development Team was to determine how the community currently utilizes the NCI-Frederick web site and web-based systems, as well as identify areas for improvement. To develop a more comprehensive solution, we compiled user data from various sources: web surveys, personal surveys, web metrics, and user suggestions provided through the webmaster account. This data was compiled and reviewed to determine the key areas where most users experienced problems. The resulting features and enhancements are intended to make the site easier to navigate, as well as to highlight valuable information about what we do here. As our goal is to provide you with the best possible tools to carry out your daily activities, we hope that you will take the time to review some of the enhancements that resulted from this process and give us your feedback.

Phased Approach

One of the primary goals of this redesign was to provide a more consistent user experience by unifying the look and feel of the various applications used across the NCI-Frederick. Due to the large amount of existing content, it was determined that several releases of the website would be necessary to achieve this vision. Over the next several months, the web team will be updating legacy content and applications across the site to the new "look and feel". During this time we will continue to reach out to the NCI-Frederick community for their feedback and suggestions.

Highlights

1. Enhanced Search Interface

   While the previous functionality allowed you to execute a full text search on the full NCI-Frederick website, our enhanced version allows you to narrow your search to “Services” or the “Phonebook” by selecting the radio buttons provided.

2. Phonebook Link

   To reduce confusion and increase readability, the Phonebook link has been placed in the main NCI-Frederick banner and is now an icon. Users may still access the Phonebook via the search or through the “About” section.

3. New Navigation

   The main navigation has been streamlined and made easier to read. Click on “Expanded Navigation” to see an expanded view of the additional menu options. This feature replaced the previous drop-down menu that created issues with accessibility and mobile devices.


4. Site Map

   The NCI-Frederick site map can be accessed from the "site map" link located in the footer on every page. The initial view of the site map will show all files currently in the new NCI-Frederick look and feel. Each section can be collapsed by clicking on the minus (-) icon next to each section. Click on the text to be take directly to the content page.


5. Enhanced Feature Article Area

   Enhancements have been added to make the Feature Article Area more user friendly:
   • Click on the numeric buttons located at the top of the article area to select which article you would like to preview. The current article will be highlighted in red.
   • Pause the article rotation by placing your mouse over the article image. To resume rotation, mouse off of the image.
   • Click on the arrow to the left of the article title to read an expanded description of the article content.
   • Click on the article title to be taken to the full article content.


6. NCI-F At A Glance

   This area previews the main content found under the About NCI-F section, including a new Visitor’s Guide, a Who To Contact quicklist, and the full NCI-Frederick Calendar.

7. Events Calendar and Staff Notices

   The events calendar area has been expanded to show more upcoming events. Clicking on the “Notices” tab will display a list of pertinent staff notices.
   

8. User Directed Content

   The center area provides a method of navigating the site information based on user role or user interest. Each section has a title that describes the type of information it contains, and you may do one of the following:
   • Click on the Section Title to be taken to a landing page containing all available information on that topic/interest area
   • Click on the plus (+) icon to expand a list of selected links from within that topic/interest area.
   

9. NCI-Frederick Quicklinks

   This feature remains and will continue to be included on every page within the website.

10. Special Notices

    These notices appear on all landing pages and allow for graphical content. Groups who have information that they would like to display but do not have enough content for a Feature Rotating Article may choose to display their information here.

11. Breadcumb Links

    Located on the top of every content page is a "breadcrumb", which is a navigation aid that allows users to keep track of their location within the overall site structure. The first link in the breadcrumb is always the home page, while the last item indicates the users current location.

Coming Soon

Thanks to a great crew of volunteer usability testers, we a have a long list of enhancements that we will be working on in the coming months, including but not limited to: search results ranking, phonebook search enhancements and an expanded events calendar application. If you have a suggestion for the NCI-Frederick website, or any related application, please contact Emily Bivona, Project Manager, at Emily.Bivona@nih.gov, or 301-846-1480.