{"id":1342,"date":"2026-02-24T09:44:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T09:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/?p=1342"},"modified":"2026-02-24T09:44:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T09:44:45","slug":"designing-a-better-it-experience-for-staff-and-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/2026\/02\/24\/designing-a-better-it-experience-for-staff-and-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing a better IT experience for staff and students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s a wrap! After a complex, multi-phase project, we\u2019ve finished rebuilding the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.york.ac.uk\/it-services\/\">IT Services<\/a> web pages.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As my first major project in this role, I can honestly say it was a <em>beast<\/em>. I\u2019ve learned so much. There were complexities I didn\u2019t anticipate, many questions asked and a sinkhole of time spent staring at a spreadsheet wondering if <em>anything <\/em>actually belongs <em>anywhere<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I now know exactly what an IT service catalogue is (and it might be part of my personality forever).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Big Bang numbers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We didn\u2019t just move things around, we decluttered big time. By merging competing content and deleting the legacy stuff, we achieved:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Total page count:<\/strong> \ud83d\udd3d Down 48% (699 public-facing web pages to 366).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Stale content: <\/strong>\ud83d\udd3d Down 78% (tackled 445 pages that were untouched for over a year).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Low-value content:<\/strong> \ud83d\udd3d Down 70% (pages with fewer than 100 views cut from 378 pages to 114).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What actually changed?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Essentially, we cut the noise. We worked through three phases, going from an unruly beast to a slick structure that\u2019s clean, logical and makes sense. Throughout, we\u2019ve adopted a self-service first approach:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Streamlined navigation: <\/strong>We cut the main menu from 21 items to six, highlighting the things our users really want.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Live service status:<\/strong> We added outage and maintenance alerts to pages where users look for them, and a permanent link in the nav.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>New service catalogue: <\/strong>We built a standardised home for 200+ tools, that\u2019s searchable and filterable. Everything has a consistent template and a dedicated owner.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>User-centred guides: <\/strong>The new &#8216;Guides, help and training&#8217; section prioritises self-service. We\u2019ve simplified cyber security guides and revamped audience-specific information for new starters and leavers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Projects showcase: <\/strong>Our new \u2018About us\u2019 section features a project gallery \u2013 a behind-the-scenes peek at strategic work that gives new talent a taste of what it\u2019s like to work here.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"825\" height=\"510\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/IT-Services-web-project-blog-image-3.png?resize=825%2C510&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"A before and after of the IT Services landing page, showing the shift from dated and clutter to clean and categorised.\" class=\"wp-image-1351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/IT-Services-web-project-blog-image-3.png?w=825&amp;ssl=1 825w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/IT-Services-web-project-blog-image-3.png?resize=300%2C185&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/IT-Services-web-project-blog-image-3.png?resize=768%2C475&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 825px) 100vw, 825px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A lasting impact&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We avoided the guesswork. We audited every page in a mega spreadsheet, interviewed 20 stakeholders and ran workshops to map user needs. This ensured our decisions were underpinned by data, not just feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To make sure it stays tidy, we have:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>A content governance and quality assurance plan:<\/strong> Every page now has a knowledgeable owner and follows an annual review cycle.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Plans for an IT editorial board<\/strong>: The group will bridge the gap between IT Services, the Digital Skills team and Communications (the key teams that manage the content), keeping our content strategic and aligned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Wrapping up<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The project taught me the power of <em>plan, plan, plan!<\/em> It was a huge collaborative effort involving over 70 colleagues across the University. We also had a brilliantly engaged working group and project sponsor. Everyone involved steered this success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And a huge thanks to Tasha Kidd, my manager, who knows a heck of a lot about content strategy and design.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Want to know more?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you want to dive deeper into what we did, check out our previous blogs for this project:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/2024\/04\/04\/fresh-new-look-for-it-services-web-pages\/\">Fresh new look for IT Services\u2019 web pages<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/2024\/12\/18\/easy-access-to-it-tools-software-and-services\/\">Easy access to IT tools, software and services<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>That\u2019s a wrap! We\u2019ve finished rebuilding the IT Services web pages.\u00a0Not only did we declutter big time, we completely shifted the focus of these pages to better help our community. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":1343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,63,15,48],"class_list":["post-1342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-cms","tag-content-strategy","tag-digital","tag-web"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/IT-Services-web-project-blog-image-WP-ready.jpg?fit=825%2C510&ssl=1","uoy_author":{"name":"Harriet Sutcliffe","bio":"I'm a web content developer at the University of York.","image":{"src":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=200&d=mm&r=g","width":200,"height":200,"alt":""}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/240"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}