Two library web sites that are well-designed and user-friendly are Columbia College (Chicago) Library’s and Ames Library’s at Illinois Wesleyan University. The simple layout and aestheticism of each page assist in easy scanning, navigation, and searching. Each of these web sites follow many of the principles listed in Smashing Magazine’s 10 Principles of Effective Web Design and would serve as excellent models in revising Dominican University’s Rebecca Crown Library’s homepage.
Columbia College Chicago Library’s homepage is divided into four color-coded sections—Research, Help, Services, and About—and then sub-divided into the most frequently needed informational categories. This table arrangement makes the page user-friendly, accessible, and aesthetically pleasing, which follows SM’s principle #3: manage to focus users’ attention and principle #6: strive for simplicity. While there is not a search box located on the homepage, the search boxes (found in the Research section) maintain a consistent color scheme and format. One can easily change to an advanced, an I-Share, an eBook, or a WorldCat search as well.
The Ames Library’s homepage also uses a table format to sort information; however, four main categories are listed in the center of the page—Resources, Technology, Services, and Help with Research¬¬, three other sections are listed on the right side of the page—Quick Links/Catalog Search Box, Library Information and Highlights, and the left side of the page features a Meebo AskAmes box, other ways to contact librarians, and a search box for the whole library. The Quick Links search box allows for several types of searching (by title, author, etc.) and/or advanced, I-Share, and WorldCat searches. While there are many links located on the homepage, this design follows SM’s principle #8: communicate effectively with “visible language” through clear organization, economization, and simple typography.
Both of these web sites account for users need to scan, not read (as cited in SM’s 10 Principles of Effective Web Design). However, one “mistake,” according to Jakob Nielsen’s Top 10 Web Design Mistakes of 2005, of both the Ames Library’s and the Columbia College Chicago Library’s web sites is the unclear differentiation between visited and unvisited links. Different colors are used on the Ames Library site, but the colors are too similar to each other. The Columbia College site does not show color differentiation for visited links (nor does the Rebecca Crown Library web site).
The Rebecca Crown Library web site consistently follows the design and format of Dominican’s other web pages. The site also utilizes white space and a table format for dividing important informational links, making the page easy to scan. However, the division is not clearly or colorfully organized, making the page somewhat muddled. Thus, following Columbia College Chicago Library’s format with color-coded sections and lines would enhance the overall aesthetics of the Crown Library page. Another way to improve the Rebecca Crown Library web site would be to incorporate a search box—hopefully one that allows for different types of searching–on its homepage similar to the Ames Library web site. This would help lessen the amount of clicking one would have do in order to find the desired information/resource. The last way to improve the Rebecca Crown Library’s web site would be to put the Meebo, Ask Away box, and other library contact information on the homepage (again similar to the Ames Library site), which would provide users with a clearer picture of assistance.
I was a big fan of Columbia’s simple layout. It was almost this visceral “I like this” when I looked at it for the first time. Crown’s page could definitely use a classier look and I think Columbia has the right idea.