The Government of the Student Body launches a new Web site Wednesday, in hopes of making the site more user friendly.

One of the main reasons for creating the new Web site was to improve communication with students, said Debra Lauterbach, GSB director of information technology and senior in computer science.

The old Web site was hard to navigate, and the new site aims to correct that, said Emily Jensen, GSB president and senior in political science.

“The old Web site was good, and it actually was much better than the Web site before it, but wasn’t really easy to get across ideas if you were looking for something specific,” said Jenna Jones, GSB director of public relations and senior in management.

The new site will make GSB more accountable because students will be able to see exactly what’s going on, Lauterbach said.

The biggest improvements include more information on the site and that it will be kept up to date, she added. This includes posting the week’s legislation before the meeting, which will allow students to get more involved.

“They can go to the Web site anytime the week before and find out a certain bill is going to be debated,” Lauterbach said. “They can find out ahead of time and go and get involved.”

Another improvement is the profiles of GSB members now include position updates, which show what members are working on.

“It keeps us more accountable to the students that we’re supposed to represent, so that they can know that we’re working on these things,” Lauterbach said.

The new Web site is not only easier to use, but it is also more visually pleasing.

“It’s a lot easier to navigate. It’s very colorful, so it really catches your attention,” Jensen said.

“A lot of the information is much more accessible.”

GSB senator Eric Aderhold, senior in computer engineering, has helped Lauterbach with the Web site, although he just recently started working on it. He said the ability to get information on the Web site quickly is also an improvement.

“The main thing is that members of GSB have the ability to put more information out there on their own without having to go through the webmaster first,” Aderhold said.

Aderhold hopes that the new Web site will increase contact with the student body.

“It will hopefully give people an easier way to check up on people and know who to contact if they have any questions or concerns,” Aderhold said.

One of Aderhold’s other goals is to make more information available.

“At least for the parts that I’m working on, one of the main goals for me is that I wanted it to be a Web site where you can get all the information that was handed out at a senate meeting,” he said.

The Web site is part of a bigger plan to increase communication with the student body and GSB, Jones said.

“I think it really just needs to be a central hub of information about GSB, so hopefully students can use that as just a great resource,” she said.

With all of the up-to-date information, Aderhold believes that students who use the Web site will have an easier time keeping track of their senators.

“We’re trying to make it as easy as possible for them to find out how they can get involved, how they can find out what we’re doing, [and] resources that can help them,” Lauterbach said.