2026 Website Migration

Project Overview and Timeline

The existing website design for UMaine and UMaine Machias was developed in 2015, and web technologies have changed dramatically over the last 10 years. With this aging infrastructure, the current website design has challenges affecting enrollment and engagement, including slow page loading speeds, server instability, and redundant content that impacts emerging AI search features.

The updated website will adopt current best practices for enterprise higher education websites, positioning the website to effectively convey content to our audiences.

Project goals:

Enhance discovery of UMaine’s value by highlighting our academic programs, world-class research, facilities, faculty and staff.
Match or surpass capabilities of competitor websites, be they in the New England region, other land grant universities, or R1-recognized.
Position the University of Maine website as a source for truth by leveraging search engine optimization and adoption of information schemas that give accurate information to AI services.

Five Key Changes

Here are five key changes that will be coming to the website over the next several months:

1. Improved website navigation experience. Updates to the website header and footer clarify pathways to high-demand information. A new breadcrumbs feature will help provide additional context for where users are on the website.

2. New academic program database with searchable/filterable list. Academic programs webpages will be hosted in a unified database, making it easier for prospective students to discover and compare programs. This will include undergraduate, graduate, online and certificate programs.

3. Unified databases for staff, faculty, building, and directory information. This means you won’t need multiple bio pages to represent your contributions to UMaine. It will also be easier to discover ways to use and engage with the university’s incredible facilities and resources.

4. New events calendar. This new calendar will allow all university-hosted events to be shared from one unified database, increasing visibility of events.

5. Common design language. As web content is migrated to this new site, pages will automatically be updated with brand-standard fonts and visuals.

Timeline

August 2024 – July 2025: Remove outdated content blocks software from webpages, preparing all UMaine sites for migration.

July – September 2025: Inform internal stakeholders about the coming improvements to the public website, ensuring the new website meets UMaine’s needs.

October – December 2025: Build-out of the new design, with CLAS as the pilot for college school/department site reorganization. Build will focus on the home page and core elements of the website; news and calendar, admissions, academic program content, and top level landing pages.

January 2026: Launch of the above core elements.

January – December 2026: Migration of UMaine websites led by MarCom teams; college website migrations will be scheduled based on input from Deans.

New Feature demonstrations

Website navigation

Academic program database with searchable/filterable list

Unified databases for staff, faculty, building, and directory information

Events calendar

Design updates

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (reorganized college example)

Common Questions

School and department content will be organized under college sites where appropriate, tied to unified directories for academics, faculty, and office/facility information. Academic program information will be organized in a unified database and syndicated/linked from UMaine websites as appropriate (college sites, Graduate School, Online, etc) to address redundancy in search results.

The objective is to organize most school and department sites under college sites. This structure is already in place for COEHD, MBS, and MCEC in the current website. CLAS will be piloting a new reorganization in our first-phase launch for the website. However, we understand that some academic areas may be outliers and not an appropriate fit for this. We are working with deans and unit leaders to determine the right approach in such instances.

In most cases, access to site editing is not changing. However, access to unified databases (academic programs pages, staff/faculty bio pages, directories) will be restricted to a small group of editors across the university. If your school or department website is being newly organized under its parent college website, editing permissions will be reviewed with college leadership to determine appropriate access. For areas where permissions are changed, MarCom is prepared to facilitate change and edit requests in a quick and responsive manner.

Academic program content will be hosted in a unified database which can be linked to and referenced by all sites under umaine.edu. This allows us to have one well-maintained page for each program, ensuring that search tools are only accessing the most relevant and accurate information. Additionally, this database will have a search and filter feature, which is not something we can utilize with the current website. Content for these pages will be created and managed in partnership with college and unit staff and faculty to ensure its effectiveness.

Most research sites will simply be migrated. However, in certain cases where it is beneficial for a research area to be clearly structured under a college, we will work with unit leadership to organize the sites and manage permissions appropriately.

A unified database for faculty and staff information will be created so each staff/faculty member will have a sole source to share information about themselves. Content for these pages will be created and managed in partnership with college and unit staff and faculty to ensure its accuracy.

Staff in the Marketing and Communications office will be supporting this migration with some staff support from other departments as appropriate.

Removal of the outdated content blocks software was necessary to prepare the website for migration. This will allow us to easily migrate content from our existing web platform to our new web platform. The content blocks removal process was an important prerequisite to making this transition happen more efficiently. We thank you for your participation and support in this first phase of the website transition process.

We expect migrated websites to be reduced in size for a variety of reasons: removing outdated content, eliminating redundancies across the website, and archiving useful records. It will be important for website stakeholders to review their new website with this in mind, and alert the team working on their migration of any content that has not been properly addressed.

In cases where you no longer have direct access to edit content, college communicators and MarCom staff are expected to maintain accurate, up to date content. When possible, updates should be consolidated into batched submissions aligned with our seasonal sprint processes, while urgent updates should be communicated to UMaine Digital via the um.weboffice@maine.edu email. News and announcements should be coordinated with college communicators (or your contact within MarCom communications) for publication and promotion on the website and social media.

This website will be updated throughout 2026 to share the progress being made in regard to website migrations. Website stakeholders will be informed before the migration process begins, and during the migration process you will have an opportunity to review the website, both as it is taking shape as well as a final review before the new version is launched.

The old version of your website will be kept as an archive throughout 2026. We are working with UMS IT to determine how long the archived sites may be retained once this project is complete, but we do not expect to maintain the older archived websites past 2027.

For many websites, your web address (URL) will change as part of this redesign. If this occurs, a redirect will be maintained for a minimum of five years (2032). If you are planning to print your website address on business cards, letterhead, brochures or flyers, please contact um.weboffice@maine.edu to determine the best address to publish going forward.