Changes to Extension's "County" sites

Today we have a behind the scenes story--we are going to give you a peek at the changes coming to Extension's local/county websites!

Last winter-spring, we began thinking about how best to replace the current Extension county sites system, since we knew the technology was retiring in the coming year. We also knew there was room for improvement!

What is different about the new local pages compared to the old county sites?

The main difference is that the new pages are housed on the main Extension website rather than the being a freestanding website system. Putting it together with the bulk of Extension's online content means that local office posts are easier to find, easier to maintain, and more intuitive for our users.

Changes we are most excited about

There are so many things I am excited about with this change!

Calendar view

What a thing of beauty! This has been a frequent request for years and we are hopeful this will meet the needs behind this request.

Events are on main event listing with all other events

In addition to the calendar view of events, users can find events in the main events listing as well. Users previously had to know if the event was a county event or not in order to know where to look. 

Flexible county landing pages

County "landing pages" can be made to represent all programs in a county. The landing pages are flexible, customizable, and can be rearranged to suit each county's unique needs. Have a super popular dog program in your county? A big Master Gardener community? Local office web editors can give these groups their own real estate on the county landing page.

Timeline

The new sites are planned to launch in late January 2021. We are currently working with identified support staff to get them trained in the new tool.

What happens to the old sites? What if my official county site or other partners have links to it? 

The web addresses (URLs) for the main county pages will be automatically redirected to the appropriate new county page. Also, the information on the old sites will be archived and available to current local office web editors for reference.