[Web4lib] U.Va. Library website design review

Fri May 11 11:47:35 EDT 2007

Several people have mentioned "link blur" (great term!) and having
problems "seeing" all the links -- my thought in looking at the colors
you used (red on beige) is that these are likely to be particularly
problematic for anyone with red/green color blindness.  Maybe carry
through the blue that is used above instead of red?

The header of the page, and the photo are both very attractive, but
steal an awful lot of "above the fold" real estate from your content;
the search box also looks jarring in the middle of the banner (also
agree that the gradient color in the search box loses the expected
visual cue of "white box = type something here").  Would you consider
moving the search box down to the right, just above your news and events
section?  This would let you shrink the header up considerably and move
a lot of the content up on the page.

Prioritizing links from the homepage is definitely one of the biggest
challenges of a library site; we really want to share the richness of
our collections and services!  You might want to consider condensing
many of the links listed under Collections to a single "Special
Collections" link -- also perhaps a single "Reserve Rooms and Equipment"
link under "Computers, Space, etc."  Actually, most of what it listed
under this category I would think about moving to a second level.

I found that we really had to be ruthless about what absolutely had to
be on the homepage -- and that we constantly have to fight the battle of
"link-creep"!

Best wishes to you in your continued work on your site -- as I said
above, it is very attractive, and I think you're going in a great
direction (and very brave for putting your work out here!).

Kathleen

Kathleen H. Turner
Web/Education Librarian
W.W. Hagerty Library
33rd and Market Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19104-2875

Tel: 215.895.6783
Fax: 215.895.2070
khturner at drexel.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of David Kemper
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 11:16 AM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] U.Va. Library website design review

I agree with the previous comments from Ron and Phoebe. The use of white
space in the body section is good, but the number of links in the body
creates "link blur." Perhaps I just coined a new term, who knows.

Aside from the black headers, which contrast with the red links, I
cannot really "see" the links. I guess that what I was trying to say a
few days ago about attempting to make those headers and their respective
links "pop" more, be more visible to the scanning eye.

Now that I think about it, information-rich websites seem to suffer from
"link blur." I've been guilty on many occasions.

I'm wondering if there is a cure-all--or more likely a recommended
process--to deal with this issue?

Tabs? Colored blocks of content and links? "More >>" links that invite
users to dig deeper into the website?

David
Archivist, Web Services
IMF Archives

On 5/11/07, Ron Peterson <ronpeterson39401 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I agree with Phoebe, I think that there are a lot of links listed, and
not much to differentiate them for the user.  The headings don't really
set them off that well. At MPOW, we have done some focus groups for a
long overdue redesign of our website and the issue of links just
"blurring together" has been a frequent theme.  They are clearly looking
for visual cues as to what is the good stuff.  Maybe you could move some
of the less frequently used links deeper into the website or use tabs or
rollovers to control how much information is displayed at any time and
to create a stronger sense that those links are related.
>
> One other thing, the background design colors seem to be scaled to the
size of the window.  So when I view your page in a window less than
about 990px the background stops at the window edge and the design
starts to break down.  At about 850px wide the blue Special Collections
link is on a blue background.
>
> Ron Peterson
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: phoebe ayers <phoebe.wiki at gmail.com>
> To: John Loy <jml4n at virginia.edu>
> Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2007 4:49:40 PM
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] U.Va. Library website design review
>
> It looks good! The colors are good, and it's very pretty. My main 
> concern is that the page is awfully busy with links that all sort of 
> blur together (I went looking for subject guides and didn't find them 
> without a ctrl-f search). Having all that info on the front page is 
> good, but I wonder if you can work on some more logical groups, so 
> similar links are next to one another -- i.e. should "interlibrary
loan" be next to "borrowing policies"?
> "request a research tutorial" next to "questions for a librarian", 
> since they are pretty similar?
>
> I'd also work on link names a little bit to make them as easy as 
> possible -- "location" should probably be "map"; classes should be 
> "library classes" (to differentiate from the other classes); 
> "articles" should probably be in there along "databases" in the link
to the databases page.
>
> I'd also consider condensing the blue header along with the image a 
> bit to buy yourself a bit more screenspace, so not quite as many of 
> the links get cut off.
>
> -- phoebe
>
> On 5/9/07, John Loy <jml4n at virginia.edu> wrote:
> >
> > 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
> >
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