[Web4lib] Re: U.Va. Library website design review

[John Kupersmith]

Great use of photos & presentation of news.  Oh to have that much real 
estate!

Issues:

Lots of links on the homepage.

Some of the link names could cause problems.

"Database" is one of the terms most frequently cited in usability tests 
as being misunderstood or not understood by students.  Compounding this 
issue, some test results indicate "Journal" tends to attract students 
who are looking for an article-level search.

Thus, at NCSU, "Many of the users are choosing E-journal Finder when 
they should be choosing Database Finder."

At the University of South Florida, 100% of test participants chose 
E-Journals instead of Databases in order to “research journal or 
magazine articles”.

At the University of Rochester, "On the new home page, the word 
Databases was replaced with Find Articles, which resulted in a 
dramatically reduced failure rate in getting to the list of databases."

See:
< http://www.jkup.net/terms-studies.html >

If a name change is impossible - and we all know how that can be - it's 
a good idea put a prominent notice at the top of your Journals page to 
catch users who've stumbled in looking for article searching, and send 
them to the correct page.  (Same goes for the library catalog, BTW).

Your Journals page does this
< http://www.lib.virginia.edu/journals.html >
though it would be even stronger with just one link at the top labeled 
"Find Articles", "Article Databases", or something like that.

Another example:
< http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/find/types/journals.html >

--jk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   John Kupersmith        jkup at jkup.net        http://www.jkup.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Reference Librarian                 http://www.lib.berkeley.edu
   Doe/Moffitt Libraries
   University of California, Berkeley
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


> Date: Wed, 9 May 2007 12:05:29 -0400
> From: John Loy <jml4n at virginia.edu>
> Subject: [Web4lib] U.Va. Library website design review
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> 
> We've just posted a draft of a new design for the U.Va. Library  
> homepage at <http://lab.lib.virginia.edu>, and would really  
> appreciate any suggestions and comments on it from the Web4Lib  
> community.
> 
> Please keep in mind that this is very much a work-in-progress, and  
> several things aren't working yet, most notably the search box. Most  
> of the links in this version work, but they will take you to the  
> site's current live pages, not ones reflecting the new design. The  
> design concept; including typography, colors, layout, and other  
> visual elements; will be applied before long to templates for the  
> rest of the site. Those templates will be included in the next  
> posting to our online "Lab".
> 
> In the rush to get the page up by our deadline, we haven't tested  
> very thoroughly. So the html and CSS may not completely validate yet,  
> the CSS may not render quite right in older browsers like IE5, and  
> we've undoubtedly not covered every accessibility detail.
> 
> We've also started a blog at <http://uvalibwebdev.wordpress.com/>  
> where you can find out what's coming next in our design process,  
> learn about the technology running behind the site, and get links to  
> sites in which we're finding inspiration.
> 
> Please send feedback to webmanager_library at virginia.edu. If you  
> respond to the list, please Cc that address.
> 
> 
> Many thanks,
> --
> John Loy
> Web Designer
> University of Virginia Library
> phone: (434) 924-7099
> fax: (434) 924-1431
> 552 Alderman Library
> http://lib.virginia.edu
> 
> 
>