By Elise FoleyThe Daily Northwestern
About two weeks after NU Link was introduced, ASG's new student calendar and organization system has undergone some changes to accommodate student requests.
Complaints about the student Web portal led to the creation of easy-access icons for links to the most frequently used Web sites and a new alternative Web site, NU Link Basic, which excludes NU Link's calendar feature, said Robby Stein, the site's co-creator and former Associated Student Government communications director.
"We want NU Link to be used by everyone," said Stein, a Medill senior and former Daily staffer. "We thought it would be important to make a second option for students who just want to link to Northwestern, if they're graduate students or just don't want to see events."
Stein said NU Link Basic was created with these students in mind. The Web site has a list of links similar to HereAndNow, which NU Link replaced on April 7 .
"When we first launched, we put up a link to contact us, and there was a pattern of people requesting they didn't want to see a calendar on the main page," Stein said.
Fewer than 50 students responded to an e-mail sent to all NU students introducing the Web site and asking for feedback, Stein said.
Stein said he hopes NU Link Basic will allow students who are dissatisfied with the original version to keep the site as their home page.
"We don't want people who don't want to look at a calendar to leave NU Link," Stein said. "It's important to have people on campus connected, and NU Link does that."
Weinberg sophomore Jackie Cheron said although she now has NU Link as her home page, she liked HereAndNow more.
"I don't like that you have to run over the tabs to find anything," Cheron said. "It's hard to find the links I want."
Cheron added that she might be more likely to use NU Link Basic because she does not use the login feature or the calendar.
NU Link is not a final product, and students should expect more changes, Stein said.
The DAILY encourages you to share your thoughts on this story. Please help us keep the discussion lively, but civil. Comments that are abusive to others, off-topic or vulgar, or comments that misrepresent someone's identity, will not be tolerated. We reserve the right to delete any comments in violation or to close comment threads on articles.
Please e-mail online@dailynorthwestern.com to flag a comment or for more information.
Be the first to comment on this story