Visitors to the University of Alberta's website are getting a sneak peek at the new face of the university's Internet presence. In the upper right-hand corner of the current ualberta.ca website is a promo button that reads 'preview the new site.'

"Click on that and you'll get served up this little landing page that basically explains to you that this isn't done," said John Carfagno, associate vice-president of external relations. "From that point, you go into the new homepage and see how the look and feel of the page is different, see how the architecture and navigation is different. This is just a preview version where you can explore a little bit of the new design and functionality."

While the redesign should eventually expand to encompass the entire U of A web domain, the preview doesn't go that far.

"Right now, it's just the main page, and the first couple layers of the site where we have some content in what we're calling the preview mode," said Carfagno.

The preview site provides an opportunity for feedback, asking visitors to take a quick four-question survey. And the design team expects to make use of that feedback.

"The web team at Creative Services will collect that data and analyze it, and it will give us the opportunity to move some stuff around if we get some really good ideas out of it - and we always do," said Carfagno. "Any time I've done one of these before, there are lots of good ideas. It's usually something subtle that can make the biggest difference in the world."

The redesign is the product of a lengthy survey and consultation process with the wider community.

"Some of the consistent comments we got back from high-school students and current U of A students was that there's a lack of imagery on the current site and you can't really get a feel of what it would be like to be on campus," said Carfagno. "So, the biggest change is the very large, main image area that takes up the most real estate on the new homepage. These will be stories about teaching excellence, students who are making the university proud, great research, big events on campus and the university's participation in the big issues, like climate change or global politics."

"That's really our new vehicle for being able to feature some signature stories and information that can say, at a glance, this is what this place is all about."