The Web Advisory Group received the following questions from a member of the staff after the informational meeting on website redesign on August 15, 2006. We have included our responses below:

Question: Why is it so important for the main gateway page for the MU Libraries be mainly structured around students? Shouldn't the main gateway page be the tailor for all, as in not just those who are part of the University of Missouri, but the whole world? The main gateway page, in my perspective, should be the starting point for anyone, anywhere who makes it to our site. Thus it should focus on what all of the Libraries have to offer and give direction to all MU Libraries main sites.

Answer:

Judy, Web Usability Group: I was surprised when the committee made this statement, because I think it meets everyone's needs.

Web Content Group:While we recognize the entire world may use the Library site, the Web Advisory group identified the students, faculty, and staff of the University of Missouri as our primary users. We made a conscious decision to focus our efforts on our primary users, as it is nearly impossible to be everything to everyone.

Question: As to the main gateway page again, would it not be best to have it set to a static size of 800 x 600. It just seem that from all of the web training courses I have taken there has always been this unwritten rule to keep your main page set so that a person will not have to scroll. Otherwise, the information at the bottom or to the left of the page may never been seen or used.

Answer: Hi, this answer is from Marie, a member of the Web Design Group, and a diehard 800x600 user! I drive other people in my department crazy because I am constantly changing our shared machines (at the Ref Desk, in the electronic classrooms, etc.) to 800x600. I have to - I get eyestrain using 1024x768.

I presented my best arguments to make the web page usable at this resolution but I had to bow to the majority for the following reasons:

1) 800 x 600 is now used by less than 20% of the general population of computer users, and the percentage continues to shrink. Just four years ago, the percentage was at 49%. (Source: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp ) This resolution has been losing popularity rapidly, and it appears that the trend is continuing.

2) I have been told the number of OUR USERS (primarily, young university students) who prefer 800x600 is even less than the general population of users. I'll see if we can get the exact percentage from the MU web development people, and post it here.

3) Although we could go back now and change the Gateway design now so that it is liquid/flexible for a variety of monitor settings, to do so would delay the work of the Web Usability Committee, the Content Committee, and so on. There is a VERY strong desire in the overall Web Advisory Group to keep moving forward and get the thing launched by January. We'll be moving forward in spite of the imperfections now, but with the plan to continue to hone and perfect after launching. Whether the committee considers the 800x600 issue a priority after launching will most likely depend on user input. It's probably going to depend on whether we receive many complaints.

Thanks for your comment.

Question: I am a bit confused as to why there are two Search boxes on the main gateway page. I can see that there needs to be a standard "Search the Site" box, but having a "Search" box that can search through resources as well as the site itself seems redundant. It appears under the "Search" box area there was a link to a page that would have shown all searchable resource. Would that not be the best place to have a person start, on a page that list all resources that can be searched?

Answer: This will be tested by the usability group.

Question: I notice on the main gateway there would be a link for Library Staff pages, this is good. However, will these pages that should be for library staff only be secured with some sort of login?

Answer: The Director would prefer that our staff pages be accessible to the public. Only a handful of pages will need to be passworded.

Question: I wonder what the current understanding of what a Content Management System does as to managing a website. … My understanding is that the CMS will manage all of the web pages for a website. It is also my understanding that the CMS Task Force is to find a system that will do just that. However at the forum I got the feeling/vibe that the CMS is not going to be the mechanism to help manage the entire website. Is this true?

Answer:

Anselm, CMS Task Force:Our current charge is spelled out on our web site http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/admin/cmstf/ and we are seeking to complete it in a timely fashion.

Question: I do not understand the role of the "Editor" for the Content Committee. Am I correct that a person was hired to be the editor for the website content? Is this person the editor for just the web committee or is this person's position extends more for other library needs? Who does this person report to?

Answer: The editor is under contract to consolidate some of the text on the main pages and take the creation of content out of the political arena.

Question: I believe, and this was something I pressed when I was on the web committee to finish developing the gateway page, that the gateway page should be entry point for all of the MU Libraries. The next level of pages that are pointed to by the gateway page should be the page for Ellis Library and the branches or secondary gateway pages. It just appears to me that the gateway is being geared towards one type of user when it should be geared towards all.

Answer: There's a link to all the branches. We will test this page with all user groups.

Question: How many of the library staff were used in testing the gateway page? I believe it might be good for those who work with web page design be given the chance to test the pages with those who are not involved with web page design just to give the test pool better results.

Answer: We had seven library staff testing the pages. David Lindahl said that five people would give us a good sense of what needed fixing.

Comment:I think it would be best if the website was cleared of all jargon, as in ILL, CMS, LTS, Circ. As long as the jargon is spelled out on the web page first and shows that the main spelling equals the jargon, that would be great. This is something I found that the HSL websites need to follow.

Answer: This is our goal.