New coat of paint, better user experience at Cisco Learning Network
Posted on
November 8, 2014
by
Cisco is making its old certification website look new again.

We've all been there. The relationship has gotten a little stale. It's time to spice things up. You need a new style, something a little daring, a bit more fresh. You try a few things on, maybe twirl in front of the mirror. Inevitably, the question arises: Does this redesign make my website look fat? It's just how the internet works. Nothing stays the same forever. (OK, maybe except for this. More or less.) Even dry, functional sites like Dictionary.com get a makeover every so often. And though the new look is typically the most striking aspect of any redesign, the process is almost always also intended to make a given site more useable, to nest it a bit more firmly beneath longtime users' key-clicking, screen-swiping fingertips.

That's probably a big part of the thinking over at Cisco Learning Network, where one of the best-known certification programs in the industry posted a semi-official ribbon cutting on website redesign Phase One at the end of October. The Cisco Learning Network relaunch has reportedly been in the works for about a year now, based largely on feedback from site users. Additional changes are in the works, though the exact details of future renovations have not yet been announced.

The goal of the first-phase redesign was to simplify the overall look and user interface, an aspect of site design that tends to get overrun by improvements and upgrades as time goes by. The designers wanted to reduce visual clutter and make content easier to find, as well as increase at-a-glance opportunities for visitors to the site to engage and interact with its resources. Cisco Learning Network is asking for feedback about the current overhaul, and even conducting a poll to gauge reactions and attract suggestions.

While we're on the topic of Cisco Learning Network and submitting feedback, the holiday season is upon us, and opportunities for gift-giving are here. Since just about anywhere that you can buy stuff is a holiday shopping destination these days, Cisco Learning Network is preparing itself for Cyber Monday, the day after the day the day after Thanksgiving, when weekend shoppers have recharged themselves just enough to limp to their PCs and buy stuff online. We're a little late to this news, but basically Cisco Learning Network wants community members to choose what the CLN six-hour Cyber Monday (Dec. 1 this year) doorbuster deal will be. You can go here to vote, and voting (at least until midnight Pacific Time tonight) gets you entered for the chance to win a $100 Visa gift card via random drawing.

About the Author

Certification Magazine was launched in 1999 and remained in print until mid-2008. Publication was restarted on a quarterly basis in February 2014. Subscribe to CertMag here.

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