The Mason Public Schools website used to be old and hard to navigate, but now it is interesting and user-friendly, said Director of Technology Jerome Brzezinski at Community and Staff Relations committee meeting on Tuesday, March 29.
Brzezinski said he is happy with how the brand new website turned out.
“It has a really nice look, and it’s a huge improvement,” Brzezinski said.
Jerome Brzezinski, Director of Technology of Mason Public Schools stands at the entrance of James C. Harvey Education Center.
Brzezinski said the previous website had not been changed in 12 years, and that is what prompted him to go through with this update.
“It aesthetically didn’t look good, it was a little cumbersome to navigate, and very difficult to update,” Brzezinski said. “You actually had to be an HTML coder to update it.”
Brzezinski said the biggest challenge to overcome during the website update process was getting used to the new design and layout.
“Before it was very linear in nature, and now it’s got many layers to it,” Brzezinski said.
Brzezinski said he worked with Gravity Works Design + Development to complete the project, and he came across them by seeing another Michigan web design project that caught his attention.
“I liked the Michigan High School Athletic Association website,” Brzezinski said. “It had nice graphics, picture sliders, and it was easy to navigate.”
After scrolling to the bottom of the MHSAA website, Brzezinski saw a note that stated it was designed by Gravity Works.
“Basically, I saw something I liked and said ‘Who did that?’,” Brzezinski said.
Gravity Works Project Manager Jeff Pompliano said the website redesign did not take al long time to complete.
“It took just under three months to finish, from kickoff to launch,” Pompliano said.
Pompliano said the most challenging part of the process was designing the website to work for all audiences.
“We wanted to find something that worked for students, staff, faculty, and those inside and outside of the community,” Pompliano said.
Pompliano said he feels this website update will help many individuals throughout Mason Public Schools, and the Mason community in general.
“Our hope is that it will help students and other audiences find the information they’re looking for, and that it will help Mason as an organization stay up to date,” Pompliano said.
When it comes to his favorite part of working with Mason Public Schools in general, Pompliano said it was great to work with a K12 school system.
“I thought it was very interesting to get into that world and get a better understanding of what their needs are,” Pompliano said.
Pompliano said the new website is also mobile friendly, and it works on many different devices.
The updated Mason Public Schools website home page. (Masonk12.net)
“Whether you’re on a phone or a larger desktop computer, you can still access all the same content,” Pompliano said.
Sophomore student at Mason High School Lydia Whipple said she thinks the website update will help many people.
“It is more appealing and easier to understand,” Whipple said.
Whipple said the new mobile-friendly website is a great feature that this generation definitely needs.
“It is more easily accessed since people have phones on them but not always laptops and computers,” Whipple said.
Whipple said she visits her school website a decent amount for multiple different purposes each time.
“It is usually to find teacher info, contacts, or to reach the athletics website because I usually don’t remember the name of it,” Whipple said.