At 2 p.m. on August 8,  the Northern Kentucky University website homepage, nku.edu, relaunched and revealed a new design.

This will be the fifth version of the website, dating back to the 1990s when the NKU homepage was as basic as everything else on the internet at the time, according to Jim Nilson, director of web marketing and communications at NKU.

“We started planning this [redesign] about two years ago,” Nilson said.

The new website was made with the prospective student in mind, meaning it will be easier for someone to find the majors offered at the university with the new Find A Major feature. The other aspects any potential student is concerned about are front and center with the new homepage — which are scheduling a visit, applying and calculating the cost of attending the university.

Even though there is a focus on prospective students interested in NKU, the website will be easier to navigate for everyone with a new Quick Links system that will suggest pages for students, parents and faculty/staff.

According to a press release from the university, the nku.edu page and its top-level pages “received more than 835,000 page visits per month” last year. With high traffic, NKU finds it “crucial” to have an up to date website that is user friendly and has a modern look.

Nothing was taken away from the current website, but new features have been added like Find A Major, the new Quick Links system and a new A-Z index for nearly everything on campus.

Only the NKU homepage and other top level pages will be relaunching this semester, but a relaunch of the entire site is on the way. “[We’re] about halfway through,” Nilson said. “We will finish up in the early or late spring.”