Throughout the entire 2011-2012 school year, the staff of the Southwest Minnesota State University Spur has had a vision: to create a website that would be accessible, easy to use, and reflect the professional image that they strive to project. In March 2012, all the scheming and dreaming finally became a reality. Lo and behold, the new Spur website was born.
The website has been redesigned to have a clean, easy-to-navigate look. This is quite an improvement over the previous Spur website, which was largely disorganized and did not reflect the professional quality of The Spur.

Features
The homepage of the site features a slideshow displaying all the top stories from the most recent issue of the Spur, which Editor-in-Chief Ross Pyka says is the best feature of the new website.
There are also teasers of articles from all sections of The Spur, including news, sports, arts and entertainment, and commentary. Each section has its own page, which features archives of articles and photos from past issues of. Also, a new poll is featured every other week to allow visitors to interact with the site and voice their opinions on various topics.
The new website features a news ticker at the top of the homepage, which will feature some of the top headlines from the current issue of The Spur. This adds movement and visual appeal to the site.
“I think this website is easier to navigate [than the old website]. People will find it easier to find the articles they’re looking for,” said Pyka.

Looking to the Future
Although The Spur’s website has been up and running for less than a month, there are already plans for improvement, according to Pyka.
“The plan is to get all the articles from old issues up. This will allow past writers to be able to find old articles to show employers,” said Pyka.
To view the new Spur website, visit www.mustangbuzz.net