Darlington launches new website
The custom site was built primarily in-house.
Darlington School’s website at www. darlingtonschool.org has a new look and the web overhaul for the school includes a mobile-friendly format, streamlined navigation and new content.
“We know that the website plays an integral role in every family’s path to Darlington, so our goals were two-fold,” said Tannika King, director of communications. “First, to build a mobile-first site with a more modern look and messaging that resonates with students, and second, to improve the user experience by organizing our content more effectively and defining clearer, more efficient pathways that convert visitors to prospective students. We are confident that we have delivered on both.”
The website was launched earlier this week.
“The website does a great job telling the story of Darlington,” Darlington’s Head of School Brent Bell said. “We are a school that offers day and boarding students personalized academic and extracurricular opportunities — led by teachers and staff who are exceptionally accessible and encouraging — so that each can graduate with the confidence, connections and compassion they need to succeed in college and their career, and be meaningful contributors to the greater good. We feel like this message comes across succinctly through the new site.”
Highlights of the new site include responsive design; larger, more dramatic visuals; student and faculty spotlight videos; a new “Explore” section to help prospective students get a feel for life at Darlington; content broken out by grade level for ease of navigation; a brand-new virtual campus tour; and more.
“I really enjoy the simplicity of Darlington’s new website and the ease of use,” said junior Alexander Greene. “Compared to the past website, it’s much easier to find information. The design is much more professional and updated.
“My favorite feature is the new virtual tour because this is very important in the admission process.”
The majority of the site build was handled in house by the school’s communication and information technology teams, who wrote more than 200,000 lines of code and content during the sixth-month build-out.
Students from Darlington’s Upper School design thinking classes and middle grades creative technologies classes participated in focus groups during the prototyping phase and beta site rollout.
“The new Darlington website is so versatile, and it’s amazing that people here are the ones who made it,” said eighth-grader Anaya Desai. “I love the new, modern feel to the whole website, and how it revolves more around the students.”
The intranet portion of the website, which includes internal features like the gradebook and student records, will be part of phase two of the site’s redesign.