New APA Web Site Offers Valuable Features, More Options

APA unveiled a new Web site last month—an online repository of all things psychiatric that features a fresh look and feel along with a streamlined menu system, improved search and multimedia functions, and new integrated discussion-board capabilities.

The new APA Web site also has a new Web address: www.psychiatry.org.

In redesigning APA’s online presence, a team of Web site development experts spent more than a year collaborating with APA members and staff to refine the organization and usability of the site’s massive quantity and variety of content.

Those behind the creation of Psychiatry. org conducted extensive studies focused on making the site more user friendly, relying on feedback and input gathered through focus-group meetings, phone calls with individual APA members, and the posting of early design layouts on LinkedIn.

According to Michael Gritz, APA’s business system analyst and corporate technology trainer, the development team paid special attention to ensuring that the information visitors are seeking is easy to locate, accessible through just one or two clicks of the mouse.

“The old APA Web site was organized as something that made sense internally to staff, but didn’t necessarily offer the most valuable user experience,” said Gritz. “Accordingly, we designed the new site based on extensive analysis of who is coming to the site and what their particular needs are.”

Among the features of the new site are a dedicated publications database and an enhanced member directory, both of which are searchable from the Psychiatry.org homepage. And in addition to being able to navigate the site by user type, visitors have the option of accessing a wealth of information through four basic Web site “channels”—Learn, Practice, Network, and Join & Participate.

The homepage also features the latest APA news and information, as well as highlights from and a direct link to Psychiatric News.