Reaktiv at Cornell

Highlights:

(Re)design/Site Creation

In 2017, Reaktiv partnered with Mule Design to successfully lead the dual redesign of the Cornell Alumni and Cornell Giving websites. While the two sites have distinct features, they share a unified look and feel due to being part of the same design system and utilizing a common theme. This approach enabled faster turnaround times and ensured a cohesive and consistent branding experience across both platforms.

A few years later, Cornellians, a digital publication informing and connecting Cornell alumni, was launched. This site emerged from the merger of two distinct print publications, bringing their content together in a dynamic online format. This project is a great example of a site that has continued to evolve its design system, and avoided the 3-5 year redesign cycle, currently in year 8 and looking as fresh as if it was redesigned yesterday. To learn more about our role in developing the Cornellians website, you can explore our detailed case study here: Cornellians Case Study.

Ongoing Maintenance

Whether or not we originally designed and built a Cornell website, we are always eager to provide ongoing maintenance and support. For example, we actively maintain the Greatest Good campaign website, ensuring that plugins stay up to date and the site runs smoothly. Additionally, we are currently working with Cornell Engineering, offering advisory services and assisting with development, bug fixes, rebuilding, accessibility improvements, and helping them launch their new site.

Migrations

Reaktiv has the expertise to ensure a smooth and successful website migration to WordPress. We managed the migration of both the Alumni and Giving websites including streamlining a 4,000-page site down to 300-400 pages. The process was carefully planned, involving the entire division in rewriting and refining their content to create a more focused and efficient user experience.

Multisite Networks

There are numerous benefits to using a multisite network for managing your WordPress websites. A key advantage is the ability to manage multiple sites from a single, centralized location. Additionally, plugins and themes can be shared across the network, streamlining customization and ensuring a consistent, branded appearance while reducing maintenance time.

At Reaktiv, we have extensive experience with this process, having implemented the Alumni/Cornellians websites on a multisite network. When we took over the Engineering site, we also integrated Pantheon Multisite support, further demonstrating our expertise in both multisite networks and the Pantheon platform.

Events Integration with Localist and iModules

We have extensive experience integrating event data with both Localist and iModules, platforms used by Cornell for event management. AAD inputs their event data through iModules, while our system also pulls in any events tagged with alumni from Localist, which is used Cornell-wide.

What does this mean for you? All event data is centralized, allowing you to easily pull in dozens of events without manual entry. With just a click, you can access complete event details, including links, registration buttons, images, and more.

We set up an automated script that connects to the API where events are centrally added, automatically pulling in relevant data to create new “events” in the calendar. These events can be filtered with a custom faceted search and even display “near me” results when users allow location access, enhancing the overall user experience.

Accessibility

At Reaktiv, we believe it’s essential that websites are accessible to everyone, regardless of how they navigate the internet. We design all of our websites to be fully functional for users who rely on keyboards or screen readers, ensuring an inclusive experience. Our testing spans all modern browsers and mobile devices, so you can trust that your site will perform seamlessly across platforms. Accessibility is built into our process from the start, and we rigorously test to ensure our websites meet and exceed WCAG 2.1 AA standards.

Additional Highlights

At Reaktiv, we’ve brought several unique and innovative features to Cornell’s websites, making each site stand out while ensuring functionality, accessibility, and user experience are top priorities.

For the Cornell Alumni website, one notable feature is the Snack Bar, which pulls in content from various social media platforms and displays it in a visually appealing masonry layout. This provides users with a dynamic feed of social activity in an organized, responsive grid. The site’s multi-leveled architecture and menus offer an intuitive navigation experience, even with the site’s vast content. Additionally, some sections contain static content, such as custom HTML landing pages. We developed a custom deploy process to ensure these pages are updated and deployed accurately every time. The site also includes filtered search results, allowing users to easily find specific content and resources tailored to their interests.

For the Cornellians website, microinteractions played a significant role in the design, adding subtle animations and responses that enhance the user experience. These thoughtful details bring the site to life, making it more engaging and interactive. We also integrated quizzes, puzzles, and crosswords, giving users a fun and interactive way to engage with the content. The Classifieds section is another valuable feature, offering search and sorting capabilities to help users easily browse through listings.

The Giving website shares a similar foundation with the Alumni site but includes a few exclusive features. One such feature is Giving Stories, a custom post type designed to highlight donor stories and philanthropic efforts. The site also provides flexible ways to feature and link to active campaigns, ensuring a seamless way to promote specific fundraising efforts when they are running. This tailored approach ensures that the Giving website can effectively support Cornell’s fundraising initiatives while maintaining a cohesive connection to the Alumni site.

Partnering with Reaktiv means streamlining the process for departments, schools, and organizations at Cornell. Instead of searching for their own vendors or managing individual RFPs, teams can easily reach out to Cornell Brand Communications to request assistance with WordPress. As the first point of contact, Reaktiv is dedicated to providing seamless support and expertise to ensure your web initiatives are successful. We invite you to connect with us today to explore how we can enhance your online presence and drive engagement within the Cornell community.