webdesign Archives - What Does This Mean to Me, Laura?

usability

What if your library’s website solved problems?

Go look at your library’s website. Now, go look at the website of the library nearest yours. Now go look at some big city’s website. Heck, go look at most websites I’ve done. And, while you’re looking, pretend that you’re…

surprised man using smartphone dollar bills flying away from screen

tools

Is your library’s website costing your patrons money?

For several years, I was a lucky customer of Verizon with a grandfathered, unlimited data plan. Last year, in an attempt to shove us freeloader-types overboard, Verizon jacked up the price of unlimited plans by an insane amount. Rather than…

tools

Get the web details you need–FAST

Today’s post discusses my latest “Headache Avoidance” tool. If you work on designing and/or developing websites, you are almost certainly accustomed to vague conversations, that don’t give you all of the details you might need in order to troubleshoot an issue. In…

websites

Shifting our website from promotional to actually useful

For the past several months, I’ve been enmeshed in the writing of a(nother) book, on a topic that only marginally involves websites. During my research, I read a terrific book by marketing expert Jay Baer, called Youtility. In his book, Baer…

tools

Make your web colors better

Colors can be fun, but they can also be complicated. There’s a lot of psychology involved with choosing colors as well. I really enjoy putting together or finding color palettes for different websites or projects that I get to work…

tools

My teddy bear web design tools

Some people have a teddy bear. Some people have a security blanket. I have some little browser extensions that make me feel better on a daily basis, that are far more useful than Mr. Teddy. I’m willing to share these;…

mobile

Why responsive design can be scarier than dating Taylor Swift

If you didn’t know already, your library’s site should be responsive. Having a separate mobile site is no longer good practice. Heck, even Google is penalizing non-responsive websites. If your library’s website isn’t responsive already, you’re way, way behind…

Is your library's website guilty of these?

usability

Why library websites don’t win awards

I wasn’t able to share this at my Computers in Libraries presentation (not enough time!), so I wanted to post it here. What other issues do you see that consistently plague library websites?