Product Design
of the Web Site

Create an effective Web presence

Content drives design!

Do market research to find out what your users really want. After you have determined the content, then you design. Your page is your library - consider how it works, not just how it looks.

Content is critical, but design can enhance content -- or hide it! The design of your web site influences users of the site. A professional-looking, easily navigable site makes a good impression. A great looking site that doesn't provide immediate access to the information users want makes a bad impression and drives users away. (See sidebar for design guidelines sites.)

To many of your users, the site IS the library, and they will judge the entire library by a visit to the site. Solicit feedback -- users have definite ideas about the design of a web site! Use market research such as surveys and polls on the web site to find out how your customers make decisions about using web sites. (See Planning Process) page for survey resources.)

Practical guidelines and web wisdom

Users may not provide feedback -- they just leave a site if they don't find what they want quickly. When users hit your web site, do they immediately know where they are and what they can do -- without scrolling down? It's surprising how often this rule of thumb is overlooked on web sites! Few users want to scroll past a large photo of the library or "skip intro" to get past a time-wasting Flash page, for example, to find the links to location, hours, reference, e-resources, etc.

Designer lore says that users stay on a site for less than 10 seconds if they don't find what they want and probably won't bother to scroll down. So putting the most-used, priority links and information "above the fold" is recommended. "Above the fold" on the web is what you see without scrolling, and can vary because not all users have the same screen resolution or keep browsers open to full size.

How does this affect marketing?

For the surest and most effective marketing of the library, be sure the name of the library and the major services are quickly accessible immediately upon entering the site. Apply branding elements if your library has them. For marketing library services, create links to those services and place the links near the top of the page. In this country, we read from top to bottom and left to right and tend to view web pages in the same way. You may need to change the location of a link to a service that you are promoting because Web users quickly learn to ignore parts of a site that didn't interest them on the first visits. (Now you know why all those annoying banner ads jump, flash, move, wiggle, change color, etc. They're meant to be impossible to ignore no matter where they are!)

For best results, apply design principles!

Experts at IBM emphasize the "need to understand users' tasks and requirements. Understanding and applying principles will be meaningless if users are unhappy with the final product... The interface should be transparent to the task the user is trying to accomplish and be efficient, satisfying, and fun to use."

• Support: Place the user in control and provide proactive assistance
• Familiarity: Build on users' prior knowledge
• Obviousness: Make objects and their controls visible and intuitive
• Encouragement: Make actions predictable and reversible
• Satisfaction: Create a feeling of progress and achievement
• Availability: Make all objects available at all times
• Safety: Keep the user out of trouble
• Versatility: Support alternate interaction techniques
• Personalization: Allow users to customize
• Affinity: Bring objects to life through good visual design

Section: "User Experience and Design" in "Design principles" on the Design@IBM website. URL:https://www-306.ibm.com/software/ucd/designconcepts/designbasics.html. Visited June 2008.

Content and design considerations are critical in creating a web site that satisfies your customers and is an effective marketing tool. The library web site is part of the public image of the library in the community.

Look at guidelines for library web site contents. For example, The State of Rhode Island Office of Library and Information Services has Public Library Website Guidelines with essential and suggested information categories for the home page, about pages, programs and services, and reference and research pages. Design guidelines and accessibility resources are included.

Recommended contents for a library home page:
-Library name, location and phone
-Library hours
-Link to branch information
-Link to catalog
-Links to services, programs, calendar, and about the library
-Link to site map
-News and events
-Link to "support the library", Friends group, or a way to get involved as a library supporter

• Compare three Ohio public library web sites.
• Do the sites contain most of the recommended contents in the checklist?
• Do you find the sites appealing?
• Are they easy to use?
• When you first opened each site, did you immediately know where you were and what you could do on the site?
• Would you say that the sites create a good image of the library for the users?

Product features