The Saint Francis marketing department has been hard at work redesigning the University’s website, which is set to launch in early May.

The last redesign was about four years ago, according to Marie Young, SFU’s Director of Marketing and Communications.

“Technology just changes so quickly,” Young said, “that we were already in need of an update.”

An outside vendor, the C2 Group, built the shell of the website. SFU’s marketing team, in conjunction with Enrollment Management and the IT department, provided the site’s content. The new website will be a complete rebuild of the current one.

A mobile-friendly interface is what Young thinks people will like most about the new site.

“The old website wasn’t that mobile-friendly,” said Young.

She said that when someone visited the old website on a mobile device, the print just got smaller and harder to read. The new website’s content will stack on top of each other on a mobile device, maintaining the size of each block.

The redesign also includes a better storytelling platform from a marketing perspective.

“It’s a new visual way to show the really great things we’re doing here,” said Young.

The news section of the site will have similar headlines to the current site, but it will have feature stories with picture captions that are more eye-catching.

“We hope to get contributions for story ideas from the students themselves, complete with a link to the Troubadour website,” said Young.

Prospective students and their families are the main priority for the website.

Erin McCloskey, SFU’s Vice President for Enrollment Management, said the website is the “front door” of the University for prospective students.

“Research shows that many prospective students form an opinion about the quality of a school based on its website,” said McCloskey.

The website’s launch has been pushed back to early May from the original April 19 launch date to give the marketing team more time to sort out technical issues before the site goes live.