It was a long and arduous process, but Missouri Southern’s new website has gone live.

Rod Surber, director of University Relations and Marketing, said Southern “flipped the switch” on March 4, and 48 hours later the new address configuration had made its way through the world’s routers.

The new website can be accessed through the same address, www.mssu.edu, but features a complete redesign and a new content management system and server system.

Surber said the new site features global navigation, a relatively new tool. Every page of the new site includes links to degrees and courses, admissions, campus life, athletics, about MSSU and giving. There are also links on each page for future students, current students, alumni, faculty and staff and friends and visitors.

The bottom of the revamped website features key tools for students, including Blackboard and Lionet and also provides links to social networking sites.

Departments will be responsible for adding content to their respective pages on the site, and training sessions have been conducted each week.

“There is a consistent look across the site,” Surber said. “There are a number of templates some departments can choose from, but those templates are all going to have the same look and feel, the same navigation schemes. The new design gives us a modern and up-to-date look and it’s been well-received at this point.”

Surber said the new content management system will make it “a thousand times easier” for future redesign efforts.

“It will never be done,” he said. “It’s in a constant state of development but it could take us several months to get all the departments exactly how we want them. Right now we’re still linking to the old site for a lot of the academic areas.”