Not all construction projects involve bricks and mortar. The Acton Institute has been engaged in a major technical upgrade and redesign of its main site, Acton.org. The drivers for this project begin with our record web traffic of 2 million visitors in 2015. Beyond that, upgrading the web publishing system— the actual tool that allows us to publish articles, videos and event registration—provides the latest data security for users.
What’s more, Acton has seen its mobile traffic outpace even the tremendous growth of worldwide usage. As an international research and educational organization with broad appeal on markets and morality issues, we have a tremendous following in developing nations.
We began this process in mid-2015 with a deep study of how Acton.org users interact with our site, which now numbers more than 4,000 unique pages. A team comprised of Acton staff and outside developers and designers interviewed users, studied their feedback and went over all of the key sections with an eye for major improvements.
When we launch the site later this year, we’ll have a platform that showcases the content from our experts in a much more engaging, easy-to-use way. Navigation will be simplified, and the pages will have a brighter, more graphical look.
Back in 2011 Marc Andreessen wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal to explain “why software is eating the world.” Andreessen, the founder of Netscape and now a prominent venture capitalist, predicted that many industries would “be disrupted by software, with new world-beating Silicon Valley companies doing the disruption in more cases than not.”
If that’s true in industry, it’s certainly true in the War of Ideas. As a think tank, Acton relies on a robust and user-friendly digital capability. It’s the focal point of all communications. With a new and improved website, we’ll be able to get our work to an even larger global audience.
