[Web4lib] Library Web site redesign

[Roger Fenton]

I've just finished a usability test which included just this aspect of 
our current Geac OPAC (which is being replaced soon by a VTLS OPAC).
http://geacweb.llgc.org.uk:8000/
It was the 2nd item in an 11-task test, following on item 1, which asked 
users to find a Spanish translation of Dylan Thomas' book *Portrait of 
the Artist as a Young Dog* and order it from the stacks. Task 2 stated: 
"During the previous search, you decided that the print on the screen is 
too small for you to read easily. Enlarge the print."
There is no way to achieve this that I know of within Geac; nor are 
there any on-screen icons for accessibility help. The only ways I know 
of to do it for our OPAC are to use the browser's View > Text Zoom, 
CTRL++ or CTRL+mouse wheel. Not all of these methods work in all 
browsers. There may be more, but the point is that most users had 
trouble finding them.
There were 21 subjects: 12 library school students and 9 members of the 
general public (from college students to retired people).
5 subjects completely failed to discover a way of doing this (in one 
case after spending over 6 minutes in fruitless searching). Here are the 
times (in seconds) taken by the successful 16 successful subjects:
10; 11; 11; 12; 20; 22; 22; 26; 41; 44; 59; 70; 103; 120; 301; 428.
Subjects continually looked on-screen to find a set of graduated 
A-letters or some other accessibility link, and many looked in vain 
through the Geac Help pages or the rest of the Library's Website for a 
method.
Roger Fenton

Tyson Tate wrote:

> Just because it *can* be resized doesn't mean that the users know how,
> unfortunately.
>
> I'm amazed at how many people with poor eyesight still don't know how
> to resize text in their browser. You should either include a few icons
> (many magazine and newspaper sites do this) that change the base font
> size percentage or make your text larger by default.
>
> -Tyson
>
> On 9/11/06, Diana Myers Hyatt <dmyershyatt at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Thank you Araby,
>> You have some great comments on how the information is
>> organized on the page. The IT's design, I found, tries
>> to offer too much information without organizing it in
>> anyway. As you mention, everything is given the same
>> weight.
>>
>> I have made the type rather small, but unlike the IT
>> design, it can be resized in IE. I'm going to test and
>> tweak this site this week, so I'll be sure to get
>> users comments on the type size. I like the idea of
>> moving up the AskNow section, and plan to promote it
>> on other pages as well.
>>
>> --- Araby Y Greene <araby at unr.edu> wrote:
>>
Roger Fenton

Swyddog Prosiect
Adran Gwasanaethau Casgliadau
Is-adran Systemau
Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3BU
Cymru

http://www.llgc.org.uk/ 
Ffôn: +44 (0) 1970 632800 est. 368
e-bost: roger.fenton at llgc.org.uk

Dydy'r uchod ddim o reidrwydd yn cynrychioli polisi'r LlGC

Project Officer
Department of Collection Services
Systems Section
National Library of Wales
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3BU
Wales

http://www.llgc.org.uk/ 
Tel.: +44 (0) 1970 632800 ext. 368
Fax: +44 (0) 1970 632882
e-mail: roger.fenton at llgc.org.uk

The above does not necessarily represent NLW policy