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 >> > >