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Tag: usability

eb site design menu navigation elements.

The “3-click rule” has been hogwash since it’s inception

Posted on January 30, 2020January 30, 2020 by Laura

I could go on for a while about how the “rules” of web design have changed in twenty years, but one “rule” that has somehow persisted, despite real data now being available, is that of “Users won’t go more than three clicks past your homepage to get to anything.”

Posted in usabilityTagged usability
Stressed out woman

What if your library’s website solved problems?

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Laura

Go look at your library’s website. Now, go look at the website of the library nearest yours. Now go look…

Posted in usabilityTagged usability, webdesign
MISSING

What’s still missing from Ohio public library websites?

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Laura

Recently, at my place of work, we decided to do a broad survey of Ohio’s public library websites for some…

Posted in websitesTagged accessibility, usability, ux, websites4 Comments on What’s still missing from Ohio public library websites?
Man staring at search field

Make your website’s search less painful for your users

Posted on April 21, 2016May 12, 2016 by Laura

If your library’s website doesn’t have a search field at all, this post isn’t for you. Your site has way…

Posted in usabilityTagged search, usability
What can you learn from looking at other websites?

3 things you can learn from other websites

Posted on December 4, 2014July 28, 2017 by Laura

Let’s start with defining “other” here:  I mean sites that aren’t library websites.  If you do nothing else, I want…

Posted in Keeping Up, usability, websitesTagged usability, websites

Stop putting out the “welcome mat”

Posted on October 27, 2010October 27, 2010 by Laura

The temptation is overwhelming. After all, libraries are friendly places, right? We wouldn’t want our patrons to think they weren’t…

Posted in usability, websitesTagged usability, websites, welcome3 Comments on Stop putting out the “welcome mat”

Polar bears, Che Guevara and porn

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Laura

(Eric Jordan did an update to his first “Webmaster” vignette, and I’m posting it here for collective enjoyment.  Thanks, Eric!)…

Posted in Keeping Up, usabilityTagged usability, websites

Why web standards matter and why your library (really) has to care

Posted on April 23, 2009April 23, 2009 by Laura

It’s pretty easy to explain to people why their web sites need certain kinds of standards; take, for example, Section…

Posted in Keeping Up, usabilityTagged accessibility, code, section508, standards, usability, websites1 Comment on Why web standards matter and why your library (really) has to care

The sins of library web sites

Posted on August 13, 2008 by Laura

Ah, Twitter is a wonderful thing.  I asked members of the Twitterverse to catalog the problems of library web sites,…

Posted in Keeping Up, usability, Web 2.0Tagged design, twitter, usability6 Comments on The sins of library web sites

[GUEST POST] Is your library search bar friendly?

Posted on August 8, 2008October 14, 2008 by Laura

Don Yarman is the Deputy Director of Delaware County Public Library. Probably by now, you’re using a web browser that…

Posted in Keeping Up, Web 2.0Tagged donyarman, guestpost, opacs, search, searchboar, usability
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