The Pennsylvania State University - Administrative Information Services, a unit of Information Technology Services

Navigating the New AIS Web Site

Posted: Thursday, May 07, 2009

As with anything new, it can some time to get used to using a new Web site, and since we’ve made some changes to the navigation, we wanted to highlight some of the best ways to navigate our new site.

Consistency is critical. The only way for users to effectively navigate a site—any site—is to have site-wide consistency, especially for a site like the AIS Web site since many users visit multiple sections. No matter what page a users is on, he should be able to find the information he needs or find the next page that he’s looking for. We’ve tried to achieve consistency in a number of ways.

If you have any questions as you navigate the new site, let us know.

Navigation Drop-Down Menu

The navigation menu is the same on every page of the site, giving users easy access to every important part of the site.

An automatic drop-down menu will appear as a user “mouses” over the tabs at the top of the page, revealing the key pages in that section. Mousing over the sub-sections will reveal additional pages when they are available. Simply mouse to—and click on—a selected page to navigate the site.

AIS Sitewide Drop-Down Navigation

Navigation Tabs

Another navigation option is to click on the “tabs” that appear at the top of the drop-down navigation on each page. This provides users with access to the same information as the drop-down menu but in the form of a new page rather than as part of the menu.

AIS Navigation Tabs

Search Box

The Search Box remains an option to navigate the site. Although it has a different look, it functions the same as it did on the old site. It’s located on the upper right side of every page. The default setting is for the AIS Web, which can be used to assist with site navigation.

AIS Search Box

Sitemap

The site map is an option for navigation as well. Even though it does not list all of the pages on the site, it does list every key section, providing a way to directly access sections.

AIS Sitemap page

The site map is available in the footer on every page of the site, and it is included as one of the Quick Links on the front page of the Web Site. The following screen shot highlights both locations.

AIS Sitemap links

Services Accordian

On the front page only is an accordion-style widget that allows users to access AIS Service pages. Click on any category name to expand the accordion to show the content contained within. Each page listed is a link. Just click and go.

AIS Services Accordian widget

Quick Links

The front page also includes a “Quick Links” section, which gives users an opportunity to by-pass normal navigation and go directly to a number of the most popular pages on the site.

NOTE: The Quick Links are subject to change, based on page popularity or other considerations.

AIS Quick Links area

Let Us Know What You Think

We hope that this page helps with navigating the new site, but if you experience any problems, let us know by contacting us at ais-webmaster@psu.edu. We want the site to be valuable to all users, so we welcome your comments.

Content Questions: AIS Webmaster