Austin Community College District (ACC) is progressing with a comprehensive Web Redesign Project to support the College’s North Star Goal of 70% student completion by 2030. Driven by user data and cross-college collaboration, the project will transition ACC’s current website into a new, audience-specific web structure by Winter Break 2026.

“By improving the digital path, we allow our students to focus on what matters most: their education. This work requires that we lean into what works well and change what does not, and that we do it together,” says College Relations & Marketing Vice Chancellor, Brette Lea.

To date, the College has established a Web Advisory Committee to provide shared governance over the redesign, created a new student support pilot web page, and created a Web Redesign Project microsite. 

ACC hired iFactory, a digital design firm with extensive higher education experience, in the fall to help guide the redesign process. Since then, iFactory conducted a thorough web audit, hosted stakeholder visioning sessions and focus groups, and distributed surveys to produce data to drive ACC’s strategic vision.

Project Strategy

Data from these initial phases indicated a strong user preference for clear navigation, easy-to-understand language, mobile-first design, and improved search functionality.

The New Digital Landscape

To reduce digital clutter and streamline the user journey, the upcoming web structure will separate content into three distinct environments:

  • The Front Door (Public): A streamlined, public-facing version of austincc.edu designed exclusively for prospective students and community awareness. This removes the challenge of navigating internal pages and simplifies the enrollment process.
  • The Student Portal (Internal): A secure, authenticated environment for current students. This portal will centralize academic information, support services, engagement opportunities, and resources. 
  • The Employee Portal (Internal): A secure, authenticated “Back Office” workspace organizing essential resources and tools for faculty and staff in a single, searchable location.

Next Steps

As the project moves toward its Winter Break 2026 launch, the following phases are currently underway or scheduled:

  • Web Teams: The College is identifying subject matter experts, content providers, and designers to help guide each phase.
  • Content Inventory: Stakeholders are reviewing existing web content to identify what should be kept, revised, merged, or archived. Content does not move in this phase. 
  • Public Site Design: ACC is working with iFactory on design components for the streamlined public-facing website.
  • Interim Portal Solutions: While the robust long-term intranet is being built, the College will launch an interim sign-on solution to provide immediate access to essential internal, authentication-required content.
  • Accessibility Compliance: All digital updates are being aligned to meet new ADA Title II accessibility rules (WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards) required for large public entities by April 24, 2026.

Employees can track the ongoing progress of the Web Redesign Project through monthly updates published with assistance from the College’s Enterprise Project Management Office.