Springfield Museums Announces New, Mobile-friendly Website
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Museums recently created an entirely new, mobile-friendly website highlighted by new and expanded information on the museums’ combined collections. The site uses the same URL address as the previous website, springfieldmuseums.org.
The website was created through the combined efforts of Merideth Ross, design and website manager for the Museums, and Joseph Casciano, the Museums’ administrative and social-media associate. Additional development assistance was provided by Noah Kuhn of Pilotmade in Amherst.
The Museums’ new website is optimized for mobile browsing, a critical feature in an age where more website visitors are using tablets and smartphones than ever before. The site has also been reorganized based on feedback gathered from a ‘card sort’ survey of site users, creating a more intuitive navigation. Other useful features include an easy-to-use portal for online donations and enhanced functionality to house additional content like videos and a new blog.
A major new element of the redesigned site is the presence of high-quality photos and background information on many spotlight objects from the Museums’ combined collections. This new feature will allow the Museums to reach an even wider audience with information about their signature collections, from antique Asian and Islamic art to scientific and anthropological specimens; from rare cars and motorcycles to Currier & Ives prints. Visitors to the site can browse these items by category or tag, and can search the collections using any keyword. As with other major museums, digitization and online access of images and catalog data will be a major focus for the Springfield Museums in the coming years.
“We are very excited to introduce this new website, which will allow us to share information on the unique breadth and quality of our collections, events, and exhibits in a way that is flexible and easy to access,” said Springfield Museums President Kay Simpson.
The site will continue to expand in the future to include more collections data, an online store, and articles offering a look at the people and stories behind the Museums’ exhibits and events.
