For half a year I satisfied them with an online form tool which found widespread support except from ICTS. Its been used everywhere and payed for by METEOR's current or past president's credit card.
After finalizing the department websites which after all did not win much support I started on the PGE sites, starting with Executive Master Programmes. The premis is simple: 1. Keep it simple. 2. Know the CMS
If you know the CMS than you can forget about number one. Since PGE is within SBE the most proactive circle I got immediately something out of them. In the form of a powerpoint:
Starting from this and with the content from the "old" sites I made magic happen. Real magic! Not the occult practices often showcased by fraudulent apologetics of this craft. One person recently asked me what am I doing at SBE:
“I’m making websites with magic,” I explain, and I’m asked, “Real magic?” By real magic people mean miracles, thaumaturgical acts, and supernatural powers. “No,” I answer: “Conjuring tricks, not real magic.” Real magic, in other words, refers to the magic that is not real, while the magic that is real, that can actually be done, is not real magic.
The main difference to the previouse project (Department websites) is that PGE's program is bilingual. This means that for every page a second version of the page was created as to avoid confusion and to make all programmes available independend of the visitor's language setting. The reason behind this supifying act is that the CMS does not allow to set links from take say a dutch version of a page to an english version of another page.
This is in fact no inconvenience but an example of Heideggers aphorism "If you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail". A real inconvenience is the usability of GX. Using IE9.0 that chrashes everytime I try to hit the SAVE button is the main source for the delay in all operations (Besides the fact that one cannot work between 11 - 4 without avoiding frustration over the prehistoric tool itself). Firefox does not allow me to access the MediaRepository thus make it equally dull to work with stone and chisel.
After the first anxiety is overcome the rest works to satisfy everybody with no expectations whatsoever. In a first attempt to put everything online that is not nailed down to the ground the next approach is more down to earth. Every MBA programme has a short introduction, the most imporant information (start time, location, cost) and three major menu items (Contact me, download brochure, apply online). Some additional information is supplied in the brandingblock areas.
The management courses follow the same pattern and are characterized by a deep fragementation of knowledgesilos which would left every renaissance humanist question the purpose of education in todays transformative times. Coaching and Seminar sections are equally pimped and the HR Network added.
The frontpage is a product of Gliffy and does the trick needed to satisfy the expectations. The left hand navigation features the Social Media Channels, contact details and subscription to the newsletter of PGE. The newsletter subscription are handled like my washings. And the Social Media Channels are to be managed all from one spot called hootsuite. The news articles will be realized by GX and the events with Google calendar. The problem with Google Calendar is the limited design opportunities and GX has this annoying more news> at the bottom that automatically leads to the main news repository of the university. How to solve this latter problem is still a mystery as it was a year ago when conceiving the deparmental websites.
The next steps are rather mundane:
1. The text and all functionalities of the webforms need to be checked and fixed
2. Testimonials need to be added together with some fancies that have low priority like an animated programme title.
3. Google Analytic code needs to be added and reports automated
4. Meta-Tags needs to be thought of and added
5. URL's need to be remapped to the new pages before they can go live
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