Web Team Presentation:
Website's Top 30 URLs
(July 2002-March 19, 2003)

(by Cheryl Lambert, Web Designer - Web Team Lead)

This is a summary of a presentation given to the Web Task Force (WTF) on March 20, 2003 (it is also a part of the March 20, 2003 WTF Meeting Notes available on the WTF website). The presentation has also been made to these groups:

• TACO Committee on March 28, 2003
• Cabinet (date to be determined)

Webalizer Site Statistics

Webalizer is a commonly-used, open source program that analyzes website log files and provides summary information in monthy reports (reports can be viewed at http://www2.ohlone.cc.ca.us/webalizer/ (the ohlone.edu domain name will not work for this link until after the servers are renamed to ohlone.edu)). Webalizer has access to only the website log file on the main web server which includes www.ohlone.edu and www2.ohlone.edu. The website logs for the other web servers on campus are not included in the reports produced by Webalizer on the main web server (i.e., statistics for online.ohlone.edu, help.ohlone.edu, etc. are not included).

Analysis of Top 30 URLs List

The most interesting information provided by the webalizer reports (in Cheryl's opinion) is a list of the Top 30 URLs visited on the website. Cheryl recently reviewed this information in reports from July 2002 (when the website was moved to the new servers) through March 19, 2003 (a total of 9 months).

Lisa would like Cheryl to present this information to the Cabinet (and possibly other groups) so they are aware of the high-use areas of the website.

The following is a summary of Cheryl's findings:

Web Pages Consistently in the "Top 30 URLs" List

The following URLs (web pages) have been consistently in the Top 30 URLs list for the past 9 months (in order of "typical" appearance in the list, but the order does change each month):

• Admissions - /org/admissions/
  • There is a link to this page in the first level of horizontal navigation on all web pages using the main standard design template. A link also appears on the "A" Index page.
• Catalog - /catalog/
  • There is a link to this page in the first level of horizontal navigation on all web pages using the main standard design template.
• "A" Index - /core/index_a.html
  • This is the first page the "A-Z Index" navigation link which is in the first level of horizontal navigation on all web pages using the main standard design template. .
• Library - /org/library/
  • This is the default page displayed on computers in the Library. There is also a link to this page in the first level of horizontal navigation on all web pages using the main standard design template.
• Current Students - /core/port_currstudents.html
• Future Students - /core/port_futurestudents.html
• Faculty - /core/port_faculty.html
• General Public - /core/port_public.html
• Staff - /core/port_staff.html
  • Cheryl is very pleased that these "resource", "portal", "gateway" pages are being used so much by students, both future and current. She is also pleased (and a bit surprised) that Faculty and Staff use the pages so frequently that they appear in the Top 30 URLs list. It is also interesting that the General Public page is used so frequently. Links to these pages appear on the home page and some "core" pages.
• Campus Directory - /core/campusdirectory.html
  • There is a link to this page in the second level of horizontal navigation on all web pages using the main standard design template. The high usage of this page indicates that it is very important that information provided by the Phone List and Employee Directory be as current as possible. It would be better, of course, to implement a single directory combining the information provided by the 2 separate directories, as well as additional information (such as possibly a photo).
• Academic Calendars - /org/admissions/accal.html
  • The Academic Calendars page links to academic calendars for the current semester and includes a summary of dates for future semesters. A link to this page appears on the "A" Index page.
• Academic Programs, Degrees & Certificates - /core/academicprograms.html
  • Because this page is visited so often, Cheryl recently added many of the programs offered by Community Education and Contract Education to this page with the hope that more people will see what those departments offer and will sign up for classes. A link to this page appears on the "A" Index page and in the "More Links" drop-down menu (on the home page and many "core" pages).
• Jobs - /org/humanres/events.html
  • The high usage of this page indicates that the Jobs page in the Human Resources website is visited quite often. This is not surprising considering the high level of unemployment in the Bay Area. This page appears in the "More Links" drop-down menu (on the home page and many "core" pages).
• Newark - /org/newark/
  • There is a link to this page in the first level of horizontal navigation on all web pages using the main standard design template. The Newark Ohlone Center website has been in the Top 30 URLs list since July 2002. Cheryl is pleased that the Web Team took over management of the site in January and converted the pages to the standard template design. By both campuses using a similar look and feel, we demonstrate consistency across the campuses.
• Search - /core/search.html
  • There is a link to this page in the second level of horizontal navigation on all web pages using the main standard design template. This is not the simple search box that appears on most of the pages managed by the Web Team. This is the page that displays when the "Search" link in the horizontal navigation bar is selected. This "advanced" Search page contains a search box for the ht://dig site search program implemented on the web servers (which indexes the site every 24 hours) and a Google Search box (see Google Search above for more information).
• "O" Index - /core/index_o.html
  • Cheryl believes the "O" Index page is frequently used because it contains links for Online Classes, Online Education, and Online Registration. This page appears in the "More Links" drop-down menu (on the home page and many "core" pages). (Did not appear in the Top 30 URLs list during July 2002).

Web Pages Recently in the "Top 30 URLs" List

These 3 sites have been in the Top 30 URLs list over the past 2-3 months:

• Florence, Italy (3 links) (February, March) - /org/studyabroad/florence/programprice.html,
  /org/studyabroad/florence/courses.html, and
  /org/studyabroad/florence/aboutprogram.html
• Registered Nursing (January, February, March)- /instr/nursing/
• Student Health Center (February, March)- /org/healthctr/

Cheryl interprets this as meaning that site visitors are reviewing the home page announcements for campus news, events and programs - and are finding the announcements interesting enough to want to learn more about events and announcements. This is great!

Web Pages Frequently in the "Top 30 URLs" List

The following pages have frequently appeared in the Top 30 URLs list over the past 9 months:

• Athletics - /org/athletics/
  • This page appears in the "More Links" drop-down menu (on the home page and many "core" pages) and the "A" Index page, as well as other navigational pages.
• Human Resources - /org/humanres/
  • The high usage of this page indicates that our Human Resources website is visited quite often. Although site statistics cannot tell us who visits this page, Cheryl believes it is reasonable to expect that employees look here for information about HR and Payroll matters and that job seekers are looking at it for information about jobs and benefits and other HR-related matters. The information provided on the current Human Resources website is inadequate for employees and for job seekers. This site should be redesigned and expanded to include names and contact information of HR and Payroll employees, a list of who to contact for what information, etc.
• Academic Regulations - /org/admissions/acreg.html
  • Cheryl believes the high usage of this page is related to the information about adding and dropping classes.