[Web4lib] More on the Open Content Alliance

[Broun, Kevin (NIH/NCI)]

Give me a break -- was there a design requirement that hoary library
metaphors like physical books and catalog cards be used?  Web-savvy
people coming to this will have a very hard time getting past the
presentation to the truly compelling content.  Did anybody test this on
actual users?  How about users at 800x600, where the controls are
hidden?  And even if they aren't hidden, the beige-on-beige scheme makes
them almost invisible.  Sheesh.

Kevin Broun
Senior Web Developer / NCI LION Team Lead
Office of Communications
National Cancer Institute
kbroun at nih.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: Roy Tennant [mailto:roy.tennant at ucop.edu] 
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 10:08 AM
To: Web4Lib
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] More on the Open Content Alliance

I have to agree that this form of presentation isn't necessarily the  
best. Although if things work well it provides a "gee whiz" kind of  
experience, I personally think the "page turning" animation is just a  
tad too cutesy while potentially introducing problems. But whatever.  
The thing with the Open Content Alliance is that if you don't like  
the presentation at that site, grab it and put it up in a way that  
floats your boat. Go get it at <http://ia300002.us.archive.org/1/ 
items/openlibrary/>. Remember, this project is not Google Library. In  
many cases you have choices.
Roy

On Oct 27, 2005, at 6:44 AM, Enrico Silterra wrote:

> I search on words I am looking at and I get "no hits".
> I open the opening page, and I get a message from IE that there
> are javascript errors.
>
> ditto on:
> Whatever happened to good old fashioned straight HTML, eh?
>
> This seems like a very worthwhile project, but as a presentation
> of the concepts behind the projects, I don't get positive feelings.
>
> just my 2 yoctocents,
> Rick Silterra
>
>
>
> At 09:21 AM 10/27/2005 +0100, J.P.Knight wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 26 Oct 2005, Roy Tennant wrote:
>>
>>> <http://www.openlibrary.org/details/openlibrary>
>>>
>>
>> Awww, what a horrible website.  I know its trying to look like a  
>> book, but this is the web!  I was sitting there clicking on the  
>> "Open Library" image with no luck thinking it was a splash  
>> screen.  The navigation stuff on the right hand side was a bit  
>> screwed up with the size of my web browser so I didn't spot it at  
>> first and even when I did, I assumed that the arrows applied to  
>> the "listen" button next to them (which I didn't bother with as I  
>> don't have speakers on my workstation).  When I did happen to  
>> click on the right hand "page" to flip it over, the left hand edge  
>> of the new left hand page was cut off until I resized my browser  
>> window.
>>
>> Whatever happened to good old fashioned straight HTML, eh?
>>
>> Jim'll
>> _______________________________________________
>> Web4lib mailing list
>> Web4lib at webjunction.org
>> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>>
>
> ******************************
> Enrico Silterra
> Meta Data Engineer
> 107-E Olin Library
> Cornell University
> Ithaca NY 14853
>
> Voice: 607-255-6851
> Fax:     607-255-6110
> E-mail: es287 at cornell.edu
> http://www.library.cornell.edu/cts/
> ******************************   
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>
>

_______________________________________________
Web4lib mailing list
Web4lib at webjunction.org
http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/