Comments on: WebJunction site refresh plans: whaddaya think?

By: Sten37516

Sten37516 — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 17:46:26 +0000

I haven’t been up to much lately. I’ve basically been doing nothing , but it’s not important. I can’t be bothered with anything recently. I’ve just been letting everything happen without me lately.

By: Cindi Hickey

Cindi Hickey — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 17:47:53 +0000

I agree with Tom that the goals stated head us in the right direction.

My hope is the home page can be, as Tom says, simple, discovery-minded, and �dynamic and interactive�. I would add inviting. I hope that “simple” means clean and not cluttered. From my view, too much navigation (or redundancy)is not necessarily helpful or attractive. For an example, look at the Fresh Features page at http://webjunction.org/do/Navigation?category=12352

Facilitating access is important, of course, but I hope that the site can accommodate a high level of browsability as well as quick access to “audience-specific entry pages”.

Labels have always been a challenge for me. Working to keep them concise but descriptive is a difficult task, but I agree with Tom that they need to have some meaning for their audience.

I like whimsy if it doesn’t get in the way and I hope that the website can encourage creativity as well as demonstrate it.

Thanks for your work to make WebJunction an exciting gathering place for librarians. I look forward to further developments.

P.S. I admit my ignorance. What is Section 508?

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 17:24:00 +0000

Thanks so much Bill and Tom! These are all great points and we will take them into account through the design process.

Bill, one of the things we are working on is new names for our tabs; we’re headed toward something like “Library Management”, “Library Technology”, “Library Services”, “Library Learning”, “Library Community”. One of the debates has been whether that’s too repetitive, but given your point perhaps not.

We are in the midst of defining some 508 remediation work, so that comment is very pertinent, Tom. Your point about language is also very well taken and we plan a serious overhaul. It’s not technically difficult, of course, but it takes a serious occasion like this refresh to take action…

We’ve had quite a debate among the staff about “whimsical” and “professional”. Our sense is that we should create some room for whimsy within a largely serious and professional site. We look forward to finding the right balance.

By: Tom Newman

Tom Newman — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 17:07:17 +0000

Excellent goals. I have three comments:
1. I love “we need to create audience-specific entry pages and simplify the user experience for everyone”. Be specific how that should be accomplished. For example, make the pages accessible (i.e. Section 508 at a mimimum), simple, and use language that is concrete, easy to understand, and brief. I’ve always disliked labels like “Areas in this Section” and “Related Resources”, for example, because they seem so meaningless.
2. I also like your implied goals for the Home Page. Simple, discovery-minded, and “dynamic and interactive”. That will be a challenge. My hope is to see a Home Page that looks different than the other pages and should not look like a commercial site that has to push ads into every corner.
3. Be careful with “whimsy”!

By: Bill Drew

Bill Drew — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 00:41:33 +0000

How about giving the words Library and Libraries more prominence?