[Web4lib] Usability create a desirable list of features (was library automation vendors)

[Thomas Dowling]

Mitchel, Dan wrote:
> Can we nominate some best features that enhance usability?

> For instance: Client customization by a cookie or a flag, allowing
> the ability to change the inteface for a child vs an adult, or the
> language by clicking a flag.  I'm sure there are other customizing
> looks that would  be deemed useful by patrons.
>

How about something really radical, like an interface that defaults to
the language your browser identifies as your preferred language?  I did
a little test last year for a talk I gave.  Of public libraries in the
20 U.S. cities with the highest percentage of Spanish speakers, over
half did not have a Spanish-language home page, and none of them
defaulted to Spanish when I configured my browser to prefer it.


BTW, see <http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/flags.html> for a caution about
assuming a relationship between flags and languages.



-- 
Thomas Dowling
tdowling at ohiolink.edu