I like the onepager design a lot and I'm waiting for InFlux to develop a Drupal version. I'd like to do a test-drive and do a usability test, because I think simple designs go a long way.
I like your approach Sean; that is, to design around what's being used the most. I've found that our users don't go more than a couple levels deep into the site, and they do most of what they need to do on the homepage.
Best,
Junior Tidal
Assistant Professor
Web Services and Multimedia Librarian
New York City College of Technology, CUNY
300 Jay Street, Rm A434
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718.260.5481
http://library.citytech.cuny.edu
>>> Sean Hannan <[log in to unmask]> 5/10/2012 5:53 PM >>>
There's this thing: http://influx.us/onepager
But I don't really believe in it.
I know the library world is full of people that think that we're unique
snowflakes, but at least in my case (for library websites) I find that to be
true. This is based on a number of factors: how librarians instruct
patrons, analytics data, faculty database preferences.
I look at some academic library websites and see the things that they
highlight and I know that our patrons here have zero interest in that.
In fact, our new website (beta heresies:
http://testsh.mse.jhu.edu/newwebsite) is minimizing the amount of content as
much as possible. Instructional content is in LibGuides, databases are in
Xerxes/metalib, catalog is Blacklight. There's really no reason for us to
pull our users deeper into the site when everything they want is somewhere
else. The website will then become a facilitator rather than a collector.
That's the approach that's going to work for us; I can see a number of
institutions where that would be horrifying and wrong.
Collect some data (clicktracking data in particular) and find out where your
users are going and what content is being used. Design around that.
-Sean
On 5/10/12 5:41 PM, "Patrick Berry" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> So, there are a gajillion and one design pattern libraries out there...has
> anybody come across a set of design patterns focused on library web sites?
>
> Thanks,
> Pat
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