{"id":28585,"date":"2017-11-20T19:37:58","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T00:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2017\/11\/21\/necc-to-unveil-much-anticipated-new-website\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T17:12:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:12:25","slug":"necc-to-unveil-much-anticipated-new-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/11\/20\/necc-to-unveil-much-anticipated-new-website\/","title":{"rendered":"NECC Unveils Much Anticipated New Website"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2017\/09\/Screen-shot-NECC-homepage.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-16438\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2017\/09\/Screen-shot-NECC-homepage-300x248.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"248\" \/><\/a>The redesigned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/\">Northern Essex Community College<\/a> website launched earlier today. It is both aesthetically pleasing and user friendly.<\/p>\n<p>The new and improved website is the culmination of two-plus years of work by various departments under the tutelage of Nathan Gilbert, director of NECC\u2019s Online Communications. A college-wide internal review of the old website, which was last updated in 2009, revealed its shortcomings including the lack of direct entry as an existing student, prospective student, parents, or alumni.<\/p>\n<p>Using focus groups, a series of \u201cgateways\u201d were designed to lead the users directly to the areas they are interested in instead of navigating through the \u201chome page\u201d.\u00a0\u201cGateways are for visitors to our site who are seeking information based on who they are,\u201d said Gilbert. \u201cSo an international student or a veteran can find relevant, useful information in just a click or two.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were focused on functionality. Each gateway needed to be useful for a specific audience,\u201d said Gilbert. \u201cWe designed it so someone could find useful, relevant information for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPhone, tablet, desktop,\u201d says Gilbert, \u201cThe content resizes and rearranges itself for maximum viewing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was designed with \u201cgoal-based\u201d navigation in mind, said Gilbert. \u201cAn individual comes to the website with a goal in mind. They are looking for specific information. We now have those independent pages to direct them to the information faster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hands down, Gilbert says the biggest improvement to the website is the \u201cuser experience\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe built it from the ground up with the user in mind,\u201d he says. \u201cWe want a visit to the NECC webpage to be a pleasant experience and for the user to find what they are seeking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other improvements users can expect include a larger font size as well as mandated web accessibility to the vision and hearing impaired.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe web access guidelines exceed the minimum limits established by law,\u201d said Gilbert.<\/p>\n<p>For many reasons, according to Gilbert, it was time for an updated website. Most websites have a 5 or 6 year \u201cshelf life\u201d. Initially Northern Essex attempted to keep the project \u201cin-house\u201d. Once the scope of the project was realized, a request for proposals was posted. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visionpointmarketing.com\/\">VisionPoint Marketing<\/a>, a higher education marketing firm in North Carolina was selected in November of 2015.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey had experience working with higher education institutions,\u201d said Gilbert. \u201c\u2026especially with community colleges. They understood our unique needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>VisionPoint conducted an in-depth research phase before designing around the college\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe took our design inspiration from high-end colleges,\u201d said Gilbert. \u201cNorthern Essex and its students deserve a really high-end, functional website. The current website doesn\u2019t really reflect the full college experience. Fresh photos and new videos highlighting the various academic areas featuring students, faculty and alumni change that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For additional information contact Gilbert at <a href=\"mailto:ngilbert@necc.mass.edu\">ngilbert@necc.mass.edu\u00a0<\/a> or call 978-556-3952.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The redesigned Northern Essex Community College website launched earlier today. It is both aesthetically pleasing and user friendly. The new and improved website is the culmination of two-plus years of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":28587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NECC Unveils Much Anticipated New Website - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2017\/11\/20\/necc-to-unveil-much-anticipated-new-website\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NECC Unveils Much Anticipated New Website - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The redesigned Northern Essex Community College website launched earlier today. 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