| Does anyone else find this stuff interesting?
Absolutely.
I have a slew of jQuery scripts I've put together to add in small bits of
(missing) functionality here-and-there, mostly based on suggestions/trouble
tickets from staff. These are far from plugins, though. Nonetheless, I
should go about sharing these scripts someday...
And I'd be very interested to see other institutions' stab at best
practices for LibGuides.
FWIW, I've been a regular on the SpringShare internal forums "Lounge" and
I've made a number suggestions on how to improve LibGuides functionality &
workflow support. There is a good community on that forum and my
suggestions tend to receive prompt attention.
On Thu, Sep 25, 2014 at 1:07 PM, Alex Armstrong <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The web content workflow and governance issues that were brought up are
> really important. I would love to discuss them at excruciating length. But
> content ownership conundrums and the frustrations of WYSIWYG editors are
> broader issues that can be usefully taken up in other threads.
>
> I de-lurked here because I saw an opening to discuss LibGuides with other
> people who have a stake in it, especially as a lightweight CMS. I think
> Josh's description of its limitations was very good. His feature
> propositions, including that of a curated plugin system, were even better.
> I have a question though: Why doesn't it exist already?
>
> LibGuides is limited, though the v2 API looks promising for client-side
> stuff. We should be talking with Springshare about improving workflows for
> admins -- such as (an example I came across today) being able to upload
> more than one image at a time. And, in the meantime, there's other stuff we
> can do now: community docs, templates, themes, best practices, etc. I've
> been surprised by the lack of this material, considering how widely
> LibGuides is implemented.
>
> Does anyone else find this stuff interesting?
>
> Alex
>
>
> On 09/25/2014 05:48 PM, Cindi Blyberg wrote:
>
>> One more great guide to share - a literary journal from a k12 in
>> Australia:
>>
>>
>> http://home2.scotch.wa.edu.au/theraven_winter2014
>>
>> For you LG admins out there - it's a series of RT content types that's
>> governed by an external stylesheet. They have LibGuides CMS, and this
>> private guide is in its own group.
>>
>> *back to lurking*
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 2:00 PM, Cindi Blyberg <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Jesse reminds me that I meant to point out that there is a "Paste from
>>> Word" button in the RTE that will strip out all that microsoft nonsense.
>>> Not quite what you were asking for (suppressing tags from the RTE--I
>>> passed
>>> that suggestion on to the devs) but it's what we refer people to who
>>> break
>>> their formatting accidentally with a massive paste. There's also a
>>> "Paste
>>> as Plain Text" button that has a similar effect.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 1:32 PM, Jesse Martinez <[log in to unmask]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I can commiserate!
>>>>
>>>> The tactic we've used at our university was to use the data migration
>>>> from
>>>> LGv1 to LGv2 as a means to convene guide authors and rethink
>>>> * the future overall layout of our guides (new side menu has been our
>>>> design choice but complicates preexisting three- and four-column
>>>> layouts);
>>>> * their intended use (pastiche of related but independent boxes on the
>>>> guide or something with a simple flow/concise content -- it's a
>>>> philosophical discussion, for sure);
>>>> * breakdown of content (when it is appropriate to have long detailed
>>>> pages
>>>> or break down into sub-pages, which have their own issues...);
>>>> * the strict use of accessibility policies (must set up strict policies
>>>> about funky colors & fonts, minimize use HTML tables, content column
>>>> layout
>>>> w.r.t. responsive design, etc.).
>>>>
>>>> I feel our internal conversations and meetings about rethinking
>>>> LibGuides
>>>> v2 with our staff have gone over well, and reiterating appropriate "best
>>>> practices" or suggestions whenever I field a LibGuides question have
>>>> birthed some improvements in guide construction. It's an ongoing battle,
>>>> of
>>>> course!
>>>>
>>>> There are some heavy-handed tactics in place here too. For instance
>>>> we've
>>>> hidden the Fonts button in the guide editor using CSS.
>>>>
>>>> span#cke_12 {display:none;}
>>>>
>>>> This doesn't stop custom html or copy/pasting Word content (ugh) from
>>>> getting through, but it does allows us to say, "nope, we're not
>>>> supporting
>>>> Comic Sans!"
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 12:56 PM, Joshua Welker <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I lol'ed several times reading your message. I feel the pain. Well, it
>>>>>
>>>> is
>>>>
>>>>> nice to know I am not alone. You are right that this in particular is
>>>>> an
>>>>> organizational problem and not a LibGuides problem. But unfortunately
>>>>> it
>>>>> has been an organizational problem at both of the universities where
>>>>>
>>>> I've
>>>>
>>>>> worked that use LibGuides, and it sounds like it is a problem at many
>>>>> other libraries. I'm not sure what it is about LibGuides that brings
>>>>> out
>>>>> the most territorial and user-marginalizing aspects of the librarian
>>>>> psyche.
>>>>>
>>>>> Does anyone have any positive experience in dealing with this? I am on
>>>>>
>>>> the
>>>>
>>>>> verge of just manually enforcing good standards even though it will
>>>>>
>>>> create
>>>>
>>>>> a lot of enmity. LibGuides CMS has a publishing workflow feature that
>>>>> would force all guide edits to be approved by me so that I could stamp
>>>>> this stuff out each time it happens.
>>>>>
>>>>> To enforce, or not to enforce, that is the question--
>>>>> Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of
>>>>> outrageously poor usability,
>>>>> Or to take arms against a sea of ugly guides,
>>>>> And by forcing compliance with standards and best practices, end them?
>>>>>
>>>>> Josh Welker
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
>>>>> Of
>>>>> Will Martin
>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 11:34 AM
>>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>>> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LibGuides v2 - Templates and Nav
>>>>>
>>>>> 4. Admin controls are not very granular. With most aspects of editing
>>>>>> a guide, you either have the option of locking down styles and
>>>>>> templates completely (and oh your colleagues will howl) or allowing
>>>>>> everything (and oh your eyeballs will scream). Some of these things
>>>>>> could very well be improved in the future, and some probably will not.
>>>>>>
>>>>> This! My librarians have successfully resisted every attempt to impose
>>>>> any kind of standardization. Visual guidelines? Nope. Content
>>>>> guidelines? Nope. Standard system settings? Nope. Anything less
>>>>> than
>>>>> 100% free reign appears to be anathema to them.
>>>>>
>>>>> The result, predictably, is chaos. Our guides run the gamut. We have
>>>>> everything:
>>>>>
>>>>> - Giant walls of text that no one ever reads.
>>>>>
>>>>> - Lovingly crafted lists of obscure library sources that rarely (if
>>>>> ever) bear any relation to what the patron is actually trying to do.
>>>>>
>>>>> - A thriving ecosystem of competing labels. Is it "Article Indexes",
>>>>> "Article Databases", just plain "Databases", or something more exotic?
>>>>> Depends which apex predator rules this particular neck of the jungle.
>>>>>
>>>>> - Green text on pink backgrounds with maroon borders. Other pages in
>>>>>
>>>> the
>>>>
>>>>> same guide might go with different, equally eye-twisting color schemes.
>>>>> I'm not even sure how he's doing that without access to the style
>>>>> sheet,
>>>>> but he's probably taught himself just enough HTML to mangle things in
>>>>> an
>>>>> effort to use "friendly" colors.
>>>>>
>>>>> - Some guides have three or even FOUR rows of tabs. With drop-down
>>>>> submenus on most of them, naturally.
>>>>>
>>>>> - A few are nicely curated and easy to use, but they're in a distinct
>>>>> minority.
>>>>>
>>>>> I've tried. I've pushed peer-reviewed usability studies at them. I've
>>>>> reported on conference sessions explaining exactly why all these things
>>>>> are bad. I've brought them studies of our own analytics. I've had
>>>>> students sit down and get confused in front of them. Nothing has
>>>>> gotten
>>>>> through, and being the only web type at the library, I'm outnumbered.
>>>>> Just the thought of it makes me supremely tired.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm sorry if this has digressed. LibGuides is not at fault, really.
>>>>> It's an organizational problem. LibGuides just seems to be the flash
>>>>> point for it.
>>>>>
>>>>> Will
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Jesse Martinez
>>>> Web Services Librarian
>>>> O'Neill Library, Boston College
>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>> 617-552-2509
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
--
Jesse Martinez
Web Services Librarian
O'Neill Library, Boston College
[log in to unmask]
617-552-2509
