You may have noticed some significant changes to the ASH website. The new site design was launched on April 4, as part of a multi-year effort to upgrade the Society’s technology platforms. ASH President Linda J. Burns, MD, explained, “The ASH leadership felt the time had come to invest in a digital strategy that will better serve the Society’s membership by bringing ASH’s digital offerings in closer alignment with member needs.” These offerings include not only the Society’s website, but mobile apps, e-books, and other forms of electronic communication.

The first step in the process entailed months of research to better understand why ASH’s key audiences visit the website, the specific tasks they are trying to accomplish, and how successful they are. “By using software to track where users tend to click most often throughout ASH’s website, we learned that many of the navigational headings designed to help users find information quickly were not being utilized,” said Michael Mersky, ASH’s Web Manager. “So we employed a number of user testing exercises to find out what terms our users would choose to name and categorize various pieces of Web content, and we used those findings to develop a more intuitive navigational scheme.”

Along with the Blood website redesign, in the coming months, more changes will be introduced, as standalone sites such as the ASH Academy, an eLearning platform for hematologists, are brought into alignment with the new look and feel. In addition, the functionality of the ASH Store and the account management section of the ASH website will be enhanced throughout 2014. In the meantime, take a moment to explore the new design. We encourage you to share your feedback by emailing webmaster@hematology.org.   

Top 5 Website Changes You Should Know About:

  • Homepage Organized Around Most-Accessed Resources – The homepage of the main ASH site has been reorganized to showcase the content that is most popular with users. This content includes Blood, educational resources such as clinical practice guidelines, and information about ASH’s upcoming meetings, which are now front and center.

  • Improved Search – Not only has ASH invested in a state-of-the-art search engine that provides far superior results to the previous search function, but users are now able to search across all ASH websites without leaving the main ASH site.

  • Enhanced Viewing of The Hematologist Online – Readers of the Society’s membership newsletter will now be able to quickly get to their favorite sections and view collections of articles written by specific authors.

  • Responsive Design – The new website design adjusts automatically for optimal viewing from smartphones and tablet devices.

  • Consistent Navigation – Later in 2014, all auxiliary ASH websites will have a consistent navigational structure for a more unified experience across sites.

ASH staff will continue to engage in ongoing user testing to refine and perfect the website user experience. All ASH members who are interested in being part of this process are encouraged to email webmaster@hematology.org to sign up for the Website Users Group, an informal group that will periodically be invited to act as beta testers and provide feedback prior to the rollout of new website features.