It’s not only lessons that need an occasional upgrade. Web pages deserve a little sprucing up as well. The DML Resources page is getting a new design and some additional functionality. A new discovery search widget will feature prominently at the top of page, once we address a few accessibility issues. Other changes include more white space, colorful callout boxes, and icons toward the bottom of the page.
In an earlier post about fixing broken links, I mentioned SiteImprove, a Software as a Service (SaaS) product that helps optimize digital content. SiteImprove analyzes a web site and provides metrics about accessibility, quality assurance, search engine optimization, and more. DML has been using SiteImprove for a few years, with great success. However, content management isn’t a one and done task. Web standards evolve, (see the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)) and as they do so, content managers, such as myself, must periodically assure that our managed sites meet the new standards.
Following the successful web migration project, I am considering writing up a case study of DML’s experience. Right now, I am in the background research phase, finding other articles and case studies about migration projects and different CMS platforms. More later…
It’s been almost two months since the new DML website was launched on the WordPress platform. Initially, content managers were quite restricted in the types of layout options from which we were allowed to choose. However, as Web Services completed most of the Georgetown University’s site migrations, they were able to turn their attention to creating additional block layout choices for content managers to design with. A highly anticipated feature that has been added to the WordPress design arsenal is the accessible table block. Until this week, any request for new tables or changes made to existing tables on the DML site had to be executed by Web Services. I am sure the creation of the accessible table block was a welcome addition for everyone!
After months, nay years, of planning and preparation, the new DML web site launched today! I am so pleased with the new chat widget, displayed as a clickable bar right under the main navigation. The widget is well-designed, accessible, and easily visible on all screen sizes. Most of the site content appeared to migrate correctly but the DML staff and DML Web Team will be taking the next few months to rethink design and content to make the site even better.
PubMed Basics is another of a 3 part PubMed series, developed by me for DML patrons. PubMed Basics replaces an earlier PubMed workshop (also created by me) called PubMed 101. In an earlier My NCBI/SciENcv post, I mentioned the the National Library of Medicine (NLM) is launching a newly designed PubMed. The launch is scheduled to roll out in late 2019 and will feature a responsive design that looks great and maintains functionality on all screen sizes. There are improved features like better page navigation and a citation button on the record page that allows users to copy and paste citations in 4 different citation styles.
New PubMed and legacy PubMed will run concurrently for while and eventually legacy PubMed will be mothballed. So it is worth it to orient yourself to new PubMed as soon as possible.
As the DML web team, and the university as a whole, prepares for the migration from Drupal to WordPress content management systems (CMS), I have been busy with the details of preparing the DML web site for migration.
I have designed 6 versions of home page drafts to present to the DML web team and senior leadership. I have been working with Georgetown Web Services to design accessible tables for displaying content on our pages (individual content managers don’t have access to these tables yet, so, for now, all design requests have to go through Web Services), and I have been working with Georgetown’s electronic IT accessibility coordinator, Kevin and the UX team to design and deploy a sexy new chat widget for our site. Lots of moving parts but I am thrilled to be an integral part in making this migration happen.
As the migration date for the DML website approaches, it is time to get serious about website design. The DML Web Team has ramped up our meeting schedule to do card sorts, discuss layout options, and cull content. I completed the Georgetown University WordPress training module. I have mixed feelings about the new WordPress Gutenberg editor. The standard content layout choices are useful and generally appealing, but the ability to customize blocks is limited. However, I am willing to allow that the design restrictions that I am encountering may have been put into place by Georgetown’s Web Services department in an effort to keep some of us content managers from going rogue with our designs. I also am having difficulty adding content to columns just the way I would like to. Hopefully, that learning curve will flatten with time and experience.
Website maintenance is a never ending task, kind of like dishes or laundry. Today’s goal was to identify and fix as many broken links as I could find on the DML website and on the LibGuides to which I contribute. Thanks to SiteImprove, that task was made a bit easier. It is so satisfying to see our Quality Assurance scores climb!
Now it’s time to tackle the laundry…
The 2019 Computers in Libraries Conference was hosted in Arlington, VA. I attended the sessions in the Web Design and UX track, in preparation for DML’s website migration and redesign. I learned some valuable user experience tips such as:
These gems of information, along with others, have spurred a renewed effort in a deliberate redesign of the DML website, coming in 2019.
Angela Barr MLISc 