Website Design

Library Website Hall of Fame

Is there a library website with which you are particularly impressed? You can put a link to it here -- with some comments if you'd like.

Academic

• Augustana College Tredway Library
• BYU Harold B. Lee Library
• California State University, Fresno
• California State University San Marcos
• The Claremont Colleges
• College of Saint Benedict/ Saint John's University
• Cornell University Library
• Emerson College Library
• Georgia State University Library
• Harvard Business School Baker Library
• Ithaca College Library
• MIT Libraries
• North Carolina State University Libraries
• the University of Connecticut Research Database Locator
• UCLA Library
• University of California Riverside Libraries
• University of Minnesota Libraries
• University of Notre Dame Libraries
• University of Oklahoma Libraries
• University of Saskatchewan Library
• University of Southampton
• University of Southern California
• University of Texas libraries
• University of Washington Libraries
• Western Michigan University Libraries
• Williams College Library
• University of Seville Library
• STIKOM SURABAYA Library
• University of Central Florida

Public

• Ann Arbor District Library
• Arlington Heights Memorial Library
• Bedford Public Library, Texas
• Boston Public Library
• Burlington County Library System, NJ
• Bibliothèque Nationale de France
• Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
• Central Rappahannock Regional Library (AnswerPoint)
• Christchurch City Libraries
• Contra Costa County Library
• Denver Public Library
• DOK Delft Public Library, Netherlands
• Library, Institute of Technology Sligo Ireland
• Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, Maryland
• Ellensburg Public Library, Ellensburg Washington
• Hennepin County Library, Minnesota
• Iowa City Public Library, Iowa
• Jackson-George Regional Library System - Mississippi
• Johnson County Library, Kansas
• Kansas City Public Library
• Morton Grove Public Library
• Mount Prospect Public Library
• New York Public Library
• Orange County Library System
• Osceola Library System
• Palmerston North City Library
• Phoenix Public Library
• Royal Oak Public Library, Michigan
• Sala Borsa Library of Bologna, Italy
• Salinas, CA Public Library - John Steinbeck
• Seattle Public Library
• St. Charles, IL Public Library
• Stockholm Public Library First real Library 2.0?!
• Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library
• Thomas Ford Memorial Library
• Toronto Public Library
• Westerville, Ohio, Public Library
• Weld Library District, Colorado
• West Milford Township Public Library, New Jersey

Special

• NASA Headquarters Library Site directory on the front page enables quick navigation.

Successful Re-Design Projects

To view cached pages of a website's previous look, visit: WayBack Machine

Salinas Public Library, Salinas, California - Complete re-design which incorporated new content, navigation structure, and usability.

Sussex County Department of Libraries, Georgetown, Delaware - New content added, overall design retooled, accessibility and usability incorporated.

Lessons learned: aadl.org 3.0 - overview of what it took to get a successful overhaul implemented.

UAA/APU Consortium Library '05 Re-Design - overview of process.

Allan Bean Centre Library: http://www.burwood.org.nz/library.asp. A special library in New Zealand for people with spinal injury, brain injury, strokes etc and their families.

University of Washington Libraries 2004 redesign - overview of process

Johnson County Library (KS) - Timeframe for redevelopment, usability studies, and results reporting 2007

Usability Tips

• Best books on usability and web interface design
• Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design
• Library Terms That Users Understand
• Research-Based Web Design and Usability Guidelines
• 90% of All Usability Testing is Useless
• How to Design Library Web Sites to Maximize Usability - second edition (2007)
• Sinking or Swimming: The State of Web Sites in Ohio's Public Libraries
• Web Presence for Internet Librarians Notes from a presentation given by Shari Thurow at Internet Librarian 2006

Accessibility

Accessibility Standards and Guidelines

• W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
• W3C References on Web Accessibility
• Section 508 Standards -- Under the Federal Rehabilitation Act (U.S.)
• State Accessibility Laws, Policies, Standards and Other Resources (U.S.)

Accessibility Tools

• Browser Emulator -- Check pages in a number of ancient browsers.
• html2txt -- W3C's text browser simulation.
• Lynx Viewer -- See how your pages look in a text-only browser. (Requires a blank file named delorie.htm on your Web server.)
• WebXACT -- The accessibility tester formerly known as Bobby. No longer free.
• Colorblind Web Page Filter
• WAVE Accessibility Tool
• Cynthia Says
• Web Accessibility Toolbar provided by the Accessible Information Solutions (AIS) team at the National Information and Library Service (NILS), Australia (Internet Explorer only)
• Fangs Screen Reader Emulator A Firefox Extension that renders a text version of a web page similar to screen reader output. Helps developers find accessibility issues fast
• Free Accessibility Plugins for Macromedia Dreamweaver: Section 508 and W3C-WAI/WCAG Priority 1 and Priority 2 guidelines checker from UsableNet
• Babel Fish Language Translator
• Jaws Screen Reader (text to audio) for blind people
• Firefox Accessibility Extension A Firefox extension used by people with disabilities and web developers

Accessibility Tips

• W3C's Accessibility Checklist
• Accessible Site Design Guide
• WebJunction's Accessibility topic, with articles & discussions for library website accessibility

Web Tools

Color

• Color Box - Design custom colors with draggable hue and saturation levels, and view the corresponding hex value.

Browsers

• Browser Archive

Editors

• W3C's Amaya browser/editor

URL checkers

• Total Validator - Checks spelling, html errors, and urls.

Cross-browser Checkers

• BrowserCam -- I used this during a redesign process and it was well worth the $$
• Browsershots -- Free service similar to BrowserCam

Blogs/Websites to Watch

• 456 Berea Street: "Most articles on this site are related to web standards, accessibility, or usability in one way or another"
• Accessible Design for Library Websites
• Library Webmaster Resources Although this website hasn't been updated since March 2005 it still contains many useful annotated links.
• A List Apart: "A List Apart Magazine (ISSN: 1534-0295) explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on techniques and benefits of designing with web standards."
• SitePoint: "One of the best 'web professional' sites with a strong standards emphasis and also good for latest technologies"
• Web Style Glossary Terms
• Web Style Guide
• Brain Sparks by Jared Spool
• User's Lib "usability, accessibility, functionality, & aesthetics towards a more usable library."
• WordPress for Libraries (wp4lib) Wiki: "a community for people interested in using WordPress for library websites"

Specific Blog Posts/Articles to Check out

• WebJunction's website development topic, with discussions, articles, and groups