Week 8

Both articles by Gambrell (2015) and Piola (2018) highlight the importance of planned decisions about website design. These suggestions have been incorporated into the development of a new website, to (hopefully) avoid looking like the world’s worst website ever.

Search bar

Each page will include a search bar as search is the primary action taken on a website (Gambrell, 2015). The search bar will be in the same prominent location to avoid confusion and will include the description ‘type your search here’ to set user’s expectations (Gambrell, 2015).

Simple navigation 

Gambrell (2015) recommends 5-6 primary navigation items whilst Piola (2018) suggests no more than 7. Limiting the navigation makes it more likely users can find what they are looking for (Piola, 2018). As such, six main navigation items (including the home page) will be used.

Plain English 

As recommended by both Gambrell (2015) and Piola (2018), text will be written using Plain English. Plain English lends itself to a better user experience as users are more likely to find what they are looking for (Marinakos, 2018). If the text is too complicated people could lose interest or become frustrated and leave the website.

Accessible

Following Gambrell’s (2015) suggestion, the website will be made as accessible as possible through appropriate colour contrast, a language translation feature and use of alt-text. This limits barriers for users.

Cut links 

Links should be kept to a minimum, particularly on the home page (Piola, 2018). One library website’s analysis found that often only a few links are used by patrons (Piola, 2018) therefore there will only be three main links and the search bar on the homepage.

References

Gambrell, K. (2015, December 8). 7 best practices for creating a user friendly library website. EBSCOpost. https://www.ebsco.com/blog/article/7-best-practices-for-creating-a-user-friendly-library-website

Marinakos, C. (2018, October 7). How we read online (and 6 skills every web writer needs to master). The Writing Cooperative. https://writingcooperative.com/how-we-read-online-and-6-tips-every-web-writer-needs-to-know-88302c09521

Piola. (2018, March 27). 8 tips to improve your library’s website design. https://meetpiola.com/8-tips-to-improve-your-librarys-website-design/