SRU’s athletic communication department launches redesigned website

Sept. 14, 2016

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University athletic communication department has unveiled a new online home for Rock athletics with the launch of a redesigned, completely responsive website at www.rockathletics.com.

"The enhancement of mobile devices in the last five years and the data that we have seen on the number of our website visitors that are viewing on mobile devices was the driving factor in this redesign," said Jon Holtz, director of athletic communication. "This site does away with our old 'mobile site' and will be responsive to whatever device or browser size people use to view our site."

The website is programmed and hosted by SIDEARM Sports, which has been the official provider of www.rockathletics.com  for nearly a decade. SRU also uses SIDEARM for video streaming and live statistics of athletic events.

"The navigation for the site remains unchanged," said Holtz. "If you knew where to look for something on the site before, it will be in the same place. One of the big things we discussed in the redesign was making sure the navigation and user-friendliness stayed the same."

The Rock's official website received more than 2.3 million page views over the course of the 2015-16 academic year, a number that has steadily grown the last three years.

All content for the website is created and maintained by the athletic communication office, which includes: Tyler McIntosh, assistant director; Madeline Williams, graduate assistant; Ben Matos, student-intern; and a host of undergraduate student-workers.

Some of the changes, updates and enhancements to the new site include:

• Responsive design: The site will respond to whatever device a person is using. The site will also respond as users enlarge or shrink their browser window on a desktop computer.
• Mobile friendly: The information on the homepage, including the main stories, can be easily scrolled using a finger when viewing the site on mobile devices. This holds true for the "Athletes of the Week," photo galleries, videos, headlines, social media and events.
• Athletes of the Week: This section has been enhanced and will be using only dynamic images moving forward. Headshots will be limited to use for new student-athletes that may not have action photos or promotional images for use.
• Homepage: The main section of the homepage now has the top stories, more headlines, social media access and a calendar built in, so the most important pieces of information are all visible users first arrive at the site.
• Photos and videos: Photo galleries and recent videos now load to the homepage, so that the most recent content is more accessible. Links have been built into the homepage to direct users to the galleries page and to the YouTube channel.
• Roster pages: The roster pages are now dynamic and feature a more attractive layout, photos and drop downs for each athlete with recent articles, stats and more. The biography pages have also been enhanced in the way the images display on the page.
• Coaching sections: The coaching section at the bottom of each roster and the coaches' biography pages has been improved in layout and design. The same holds true for the staff directory page.
• Schedules: A drop down for each completed game, that shows the box score, recap and game details, has been added to enhance the amount of content available on the schedule pages.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jon Holtz | 724.738.4925 | jonathan.holtz@sru.edu