[Web4lib] Sub sites: - how do you differentiate?

[Chris Barr]

Hi Lisa,

This is something that I have always been baffled by as a user with 
library sites and as a web technologist who has had to deal with these 
politics.

For me as a user, it doesn't make sense for each of the libraries to 
have their own site, with slightly different variations. However, it 
does make sense for each library to have their own page within the 
"University Libraries" website that highlights the unique services that 
I can only find in that library. (Especially, if the electronic 
resources and catalog are shared across all of the libraries.)

In my mind it would be like going to Walmart's website and having a 
different site off the homepage for each store. Instead, on Walmart's 
site I can find my local store, where I can find the unique info about 
that store: "At this location you can find a pharmacy, here's this 
store's contact information, etc..." Also, on that page I can say "Make 
this my store." Now when I do a search and find an item, I know if they 
have it at "My Store," which could just as easily be "My Library."

(I am not a Walmart supporter in any way, but I thought it made a useful 
analogy.)

And beyond a separate color, since we are talking about separate 
physical spaces, maybe showing that space would be more useful...

Best,
Chris Barr
Villanova University



Pons, Lisa (ponslm) wrote:
> Our web team is in  the throes of a deep philosophical debate right now about design for our sites. I have my opinion, but I wonder if I am right... so:
>
> We have one umbrella organization: University Libraries, which is made up of 10 college and departmental libraries.
>
> We have a main site:
> http://www.libraries.uc.edu/
>
> and each of our c&d sites have their own sites, of which these are a few:
> http://www.libraries.uc.edu/classics/
> http://www.libraries.uc.edu/arb/
> http://www.libraries.uc.edu/rwc/
>
>
> Originally, our concept was our main site would have red as the "highlight color", and then each C&D, or sub site could choose their own highlight color. The idea being that navigation and terminology would be similar, yet the color would help to distinguish one site from the other.
>
> Now however, some sites want to use the red... some don't... some want the same highlight color as another.
>
> Questions:
> -As a user, would you feel the color is important to help you know where you are?
> -Would it matter to you if 4 of the sites were identical, and the rest each had a different color?
> -Would it be better if each site was completely different, navigation, structure, etc...?
>
> Are there any articles, websites etc... that would help us in making this decision?
>
> Have any of you run into this issue? How did you resolve it?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Lisa Pons-Haitz
> University of Cincinnati Libraries
>
>
>
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