Aesthetically pleasing, informative and easy to update.

Those were the goals set for the new GSB website, which launched earlier this week. The web address remains the same for the site, www.gsb.iastate.edu.

“The intent is to have it updated more and the content be more fresh and it won’t be just static,” said Katelyn McClintock, GSB director of public relations and senior in journalism and mass communication.

McClintock and James Parrott, GSB director of information technology and senior in computer engineering, have been working on creating the new website for the past several months.

The GSB was prompted to create a new website after Luke Roling, GSB president and senior in chemical engineering, applied to win one of several free, six-month contract forms with Global Reach, an Ames-based web developer. After winning a contract, work began on the new website.

New features of the website include news and get involved sections, information on what GSB does and who they fund, as well as a calendar of upcoming GSB events.

“We want it to be a resource for students and not just something they just check once a week or so,” Parrott said.

One of the downsides of the old website was that it required HTML and PHP coding, something only Parrott knew how to work with. This created a barrier that forced GSB members to go through Parrott in order to get new information and announcements posted on the site.

The content management system for the new site is similar to that of a Word document.

“It’s easier for people to update it and not have to have the knowledge of code,” McClintock said.

The new site is set up to allow varying levels of access to be granted to GSB members so they can post things on the website. For example, senators could be given access to only update their profiles, while the director of information technology would have total access to the website when it comes to posting updates, McClintock said.

Though they have not received any feedback regarding the new site yet, McClintock encourages students to check it out. If anyone notices something that is wrong or would like to make suggestions about how to improve the website, they can contact McClintock via email: [email protected].

“Hopefully people will say what they want,” McClintock said. “We welcome that vital input.”