General Comments during testing

Confusing Things

Articles Tab on Home Page

The articles tab continues to be confusing for most people because of how things are visually represented and named on the page. Even though the phrase ‘Periodicals at SUNY Potsdam’ was changed to become ‘Search for Journals, Magazines, or Newspapers’ people still selected the link to search for articles.

Library Catalogs on Home Page

Most people entered the search term in the empty field and clicked on the search button to locate a book. By having a list of different catalogs available on the Home Page is confusing for some people because they are given several different choices.

Questions that a few people asked were:

  • What catalog should I use?
  • What makes the catalogs different from each other?
  • Once I find a book in the catalog how do I get it?

Good Things

Social Media

One person stated that they liked seeing facebook and other social media all together in one place. They were actually surprised that the libraries had accounts with some of these services.

Music Resources Web Page

The music resources web page was easy for people to use and they felt like they new exactly where they needed to go to get to the information they needed. It is a page that is not cluttered with extraneous items that get in the way. When people where asked to view the Music Resources web page in the new website side by side to the page that exists in LibGuides people overwhelmingly liked the new page better.

General Comments

The new website is easier to use than the current website. People like the minimalistic look because it makes it easier for them to find things. One person stated that they liked the Online Resources and Libraries A to Z web pages. They found these two web pages very useful in trying to find information.

Informal Usability Testing

Over the past couple of weeks some informal usability testing has taken place. This information will help us to make it easier for people to use the new website.

Results

Faculty

Are there currently any job openings available with the libraries?

Person 1 – They clicked on the ‘About Us’ link from the left hand navigation and selected the ‘Employment’ link.

Person 2 – They clicked on the the ‘About Us’ link from the left hand navigation and selected the ‘Employment’ link.

How long can you check out a book for?

Person 1 – They clicked on the ‘FAQs’ link from the left hand navigation and selected the question ‘How long can an item be checked out for?’. Once the content was revealed they selected the link called ‘Borrowing Policy’. After arriving on the ‘Borrowing Policy’ web page they clicked o the link ‘Books’. This person was surprised that they could check out a book for the entire academic year.

Person 2 – They clicked on the help tab on th Home page first. Next they clicked on the ‘About Us’ link in the left hand navigation. After arriving at this web page they clicked on the ‘Policies and Procedures’ link from the left hand navigation. After arriving here they selected the ‘Borrowing Policy’ link from the center of the page.

If you need help with a project that you are working on for a class what would you do?

Person 1 – While on the Home page they clicked on the Help tab. At first this person tried to click in the large white box of the chat widget; However, no cursor appeared. After a few clicks they realized that they needed to click in the small rectangle that has faint gray text that reads “Type here and hit enter to send a private message.” After they clicked in this rectangle they began to type to see what would happen (which probably caused some confusion for the person on the other end).

Person 2 – They went back to the ‘Home Page’ and clicked on the Help tab. After selecting the tab they mentioned that they could get immediate help through the chat widget or send an email.

**What type of equipment can be checked out at the Crane Library?

Person 1 – They clicked on the link ‘Resources by Subject’ first. After arriving at this web page they realized that they ended up someplace they did not want to be. Next they clicked on the ‘FAQs’ link. After not finding the answer to the question they selected the ‘About Us’ link and than selected ‘Crane Library’. At this point, I told the person that the equipment is not currently listed on the website.

Person 2 – They clicked on the link called ‘About Us’ in the left hand navigation. After arriving on this web page they selected the ‘Crane Library’ link.

You are doing research in your field to answer a specific question. Where would you go in the website to find materials that will help you to answer your question?

Person 1 – They clicked on the link ‘Online Resources’. After arriving at the web page they clicked on the link called ‘Articles’. Once all of the choices were revealed they selected the resource Wilson Web – OmniFile Full Text Select and did a search for something that they were interested in finding.

Person 2 – This person went back to the ‘Home page and clicked on the Articles tab. After selecting the articles tab they clicked on the link called ‘Search for Journals, Magazines, or Newspapers’. After arriving on the Periodicals at SUNY Potsdam web page they entered the term “gas fracking” into the empty filed and clicked on the search button. This person was unsuccessful in finding information about the topic they were looking for information about.

Students

Are there currently any job openings available with the libraries?

Person 1 – They clicked on the ‘Contact Us’ link in the left hand navigation. After arriving on this web page this person scrolled down to the bottom of the page and than back to the top. After scrolling back to the top they remained on the web page for several seconds before selecting the ‘About Us’ link in the left hand navigation. After arriving on this page they selected the ‘Employment’ link.

In talking with this person they mentioned that they stayed on the Home page for a while because they were looking for a link called ’employment’. They also stated that they expected to see a link for employment some place at the bottom of the page.

Person 2 – They clicked on the ‘About Us’ link from the left hand navigation. After arriving on this web page they clicked on the ‘Employment’ link.

Person 3 – At first they said they were not sure on where to go to find the information that was needed to answer this question. After about a minute this person selected the ‘About Us’ link from the left hand navigation. Once they got to the About Us web page they selected the link called ‘Employment’.

How long can you check out a book for?

Person 1 – At first they clicked on the ‘Crumb Library’ link from the left hand navigation. Once arriving at this page they quickly selected the ‘FAQs’ link and than clicked on the link called ‘How long can an item be checked out for?’. After the content was revealed they clicked on the link called ‘Borrowing Policy’. After arriving on the Borrowing Policy web page they clicked on the link called ‘Books’.

Person 2 – They clicked on the ‘Policies and Procedures’ link in the left hand navigation. When arriving at this web page they selected ‘Borrowing Policy’. Once arriving on the Borrowing Policy web page they selected the link ‘Books’ and stated that they could check out a book for 28 days.

Person 3 – While on the Employment web page they clicked on the ‘Home’ link located in the left hand navigation. After getting back to the Home page they clicked on the ‘Help’ tab. Next they selected the ‘FAQs link from the left hand navigation. On the FAQs web page they clicked on the link called ‘How long can I check out a book for?’. Once the content was revealed they immediately clicked on the link called ‘Borrowing Policy’. Upon arriving on the Borrowing Policy web page they clicked on the link called ‘Books’.

If you need help with a project that you are working on for a class what would you do?

Person 1 – This person went directly to the ‘Home Page’ and clicked on the Help tab.

Person 2 – They selected the link called ‘Home’ in the left hand navigation. After arriving at the Home page they selected the ‘Help’ tab at the top of the web page.

Person 3 – They selected the link called ‘Online Resources’ from the left hand navigation. Once they arrived on the Online Resources web page they clicked on the link called ‘Article’.

Lets say you are taking a history class and you are writing a research paper on women’s suffrage. The professor has stated that you must use peer reviewed articles as references. Where would you to to find an article that you could use for your paper?

Person 1 – While on the ‘Home Page’ they clicked on the link called ‘Resources by Subject’ from the left hand navigation. After arriving on this web page they scrolled down to the bottom of the page and than selected the link called ‘Women’s & Gender Studies’.

Person 2 – They clicked on the link called ‘Resources by Subject’. After arriving at this web page they selected the ‘History’ link.

**What type of equipment can be checked out at the Crane Library?

Person 1 – At first this person selected the ‘Contact Us’ link from the left hand navigation. Next they selected the ‘About Us’ link and than ‘Crane Library’.

Person 2 – The first thing the person did was click on the browsers back button. After arriving someplace they did not want to be the selected the ‘Home’ link from the left hand navigation. Upon arriving at the Home page they selected the link called ‘FAQs’. On the FAQs web page they clicked the link called ‘Borrowing Policy’. At this point in time the question was read out loud again because there was some confusion in what the person was actually asked to find. After this person heard the question again they selected the ‘About Us’ link from the left hand navigation and than they selected the ‘Employment’ link.

Person 3 – They clicked on the link called ‘Libraries A to Z’ in the left hand navigation. After arriving on the Libraries A to Z web page they clicked on the link called ‘Crane Library’.

One of your professors stated in class that she has put some books on reserve in the library for class. How would you find the books that have been put on reserve?

Person 1 – This person clicked on the link called ‘FAQs’ from the left hand navigation. After arriving at this web page they clicked on the link called ‘How do I find a book on reserve?’.

Person 2 – They immediately went to the Home Page by clicking on the web browsers back button. Once back on the Home page they selected the link called ‘Course Reserves’.

Person 3 – The first thing this person did was click on the ‘Home’ link in the left hand navigation. After getting back to the Home page they clicked on the link called ‘Course Reserves’.

You are enrolled in the following music class Literature and Style I. For one of your assignments the professor has stated that you must use both Oxford Music Online and JSTOR for a short paper you are writing. Where would you find these two resources?

Person 1 – They immediately clicked on the link called ‘Online Resources’. Once arriving on this web page they selected the link called ‘Electronic Books and Scripts’ and stated that Oxford Music Online was listed. Next they selected the link called ‘Audio/Visual’. Next they selected ‘Articles’ and stated that JSTOR appeared in this list.

Person 2 – They selected the link called ‘Resources by Subject’ in the left hand navigation. Once arriving on this page they scrolled down and selected the link called ‘Music’. After arriving on the Music Resources web page they clicked on the link called ‘Articles’ to locate JSTOR. Than the clicked on the link called ‘Reference’ to find Oxford Music Online.

Person 3 – This person clicked on the link called ‘Online Resources’ from the left hand navigation. Once getting to this web page they paused for a moment and mentioned that they were not sure where they would be able to find Oxford Music Online. The first thing they clicked on was the link called ‘Electronic Books’ to locate Oxford Music Online. Next they clicked on the link called ‘Primary Resources’ to try and find JSTOR; However, it was not located in this location. The next link that was clicked on was ‘Articles’ and then they stated they had found JSTOR. While trying to find JSTOR this person mentioned that they did not know it was, but they still could find the item without knowing anything about it.

** The equipment that you can check out at the Crane Library was not listed in the website while testing.

More Appearance Updates

The past week has been very busy doing a variety of things and most of them did not pertain to the website. Even though it was a busy week updates have been made to the website. As in an earlier post a brief explanation will be provided instead of talking through all of the technical details.

Left Hand Column

  • Twitter Feed was removed because people did not know what it was and second it does not get updated on a regular basis (there was five weeks between the current and last tweet).
  • Navigation Order was changed to put most important items first. This will need to be tested with people to find out if the order helps them become more efficient in finding information.
  • Padding was added to the left hand column, so it matches the height of th right hand column.
  • Color Yellow was removed when you hover over the social media links.

Right Hand Column

  • Color Yellow was removed when you hover of the ‘Crumb Hours by Month’ and ‘Crane Hours by Month’ link.

Home Page After Updates

 

About Us Section

  • Bread Crumb Navigation was missing ‘About Us’, so it was added to the page. For example, the ‘Crumb Library’ web page bread crumb navigation was changed from Home > Crumb Library to become Home > About Us > Crumb Library.

About Us Page After Updates

 

Calendar Updates

With other responsibilities coming up and being out of town for An Event Apart updates have been made to the calendar. It was my goal to have the website finished by Christmas; However, it will not be finished until mid January. The new proposed date to have everything finished by is Tuesday, January 17, 2012. The majority of the work will be done by the First Day of Winterim; However, there will still be updates that will need to made after the website is moved to the web server.

At the moment there will be a period of four weeks where both the current and new website will coexist at the same time. We will be able to do this because the new website will be residing on a different web server than the current one and it will also have a different domain name. This overlap in time will allow for the college and other people who have links going to the current website to change them to the new website.

The list of things to do

  • Update the appearance of new website
  • Add content that has been written to be used for testing
  • Do some quick usability testing
  • Make updates based upon testing
  • Add Edited content to the new website
  • Have an editor look at content after it is placed in new website
  • Update content based upon editors comments
  • Move new website to web server
  • Make adjustments after moving site to the web server
  • Place a redirect on old website that takes people to the new website
  • Remove old website

I am glad that, I did not use an ordered list for these items. By seeing a total number of items would be very overwhelming to me. If you have not taken a look at the calendar now would be a good time to do it.

Appearance and Infrastructure Updates

Appearance Updates

The past few weeks have been dedicated to making updates to the appearance of the new College Libraries website. Instead of taking a long time to discuss all of the details in depth a brief explanation will be provided instead. All of the appearance updates have been made to the CSS to adjust how things appear on a device.

Links

  • The line that appears underneath the links has been removed (a {text-decoration: none;})
  • When a person hovers their mouse over top of a link it becomes underlined (a:hover {text-decoration: underline;} )

Left Hand Navigation

  • The line that appears underneath the links has been removed (a {text-decoration: none;})
  • When a person hover their mouse over top of the navigation the following occurs:
    • A border to the left of the link appears in the color red (border-left: solid .25em rgb(157, 40, 30);)
    • The background color yellow appears (background-color: #FFC;)

Headings

  • The spacing between the headings and paragraphs has been reduced.
  • Spacing that occurs between two headings has been reinstated (at one point it had been removed).

General Changes Throughout Site

  • Right Column – Blue background has been removed
  • Twitter Box – Color of the links have been changed from blue to red to match the rest of the website.
  • The space that sits above and below the copyright information at the bottom of the website has been adjusted.

Infrastructure Updates

The infrastructure updates could also be considered as changes to the template. A master template was created for the website and it has been used to create the different web pages that make up the website. After creating the template the W3C Markup Validation Service was used to validate it along with the home page and the about us prototype page. A few errors were detected, so adjustments had to be made to the HTML in order for all of the pages to validate.

Some of the errors that needed to be addressed were:

  • & needed to be changed to become &
  • The nested list on the About Us web page was missing a closing </ul> tag.

I’m sure that there were more errors, but I do not remember all of them. At the moment the validator is still finding one error on the home page. The error is for the link that takes you to the advanced search of the library catalog. The URL for the link is http://search.idsproject.org/index.phpoclc_symbol=ZQM&view=ids&search_form=advanced&query_value[0]=&query_value[1]=&query_value[2]=&query_relation[0]=all&query_index[0]=kw&sort_keys=Relevance&search_scope=my_library. I am not that concerned with the error because the link works; However, if you know why the validator is throwing an error please let me know.

Contact Us Web Page

The contact us web page has received a few updates that are much different from the ones that have already been discussed. The updates that have been made to this page impact the web form that appears at the bottom of it. The web page has been set up to prevent a person from submitting the form unless a person fills out each blank form field and they enter a valid email address. If a person forgets to fill out one of the form fields or enters an invalid email address an error message will appear. For example, if a person does not enter a valid email address and clicks on the submit button the following message appears “Invalid format.”

A combination of JavaScript and CSS are being used for the error messages. The JavaScript is used to detect and display the error message and the CSS is used to adjust the appearance of the message. The CSS that has been added makes the error message appear in red.