Web Advisory Group Home > Minutes > 21 July 2004
Minutes - 21 July 2004Present: Hennig (chair), Duke, Harter, Quirion, Skuce (minutes)
1. WAG reviewed the staff ideas submitted so far for the "photo stripe" on the Libraries' home page. We received several fine suggestions. After considering such factors as timeliness, relevance, "do-ability," and potential tie-ins, we made several selections, and each member of WAG came away with assignments. We now have a rough schedule for images through the beginning of classes, in addition to some concepts for specific times later in the year, and several "anytime" ideas that can be plugged in whenever we like. We will continue to encourage staff to submit ideas as well as images.
2. We asked the ATIC lab to review our new home page and give us feedback on accessibility features. We spent some time going over a few suggestions they gave, and figuring out the best ways to implement them. Nicole will make some mockups using the structural header tags, and Christine will investigate color and contrast values. As for Javascript, it's the only way for the Barton search to work, but we will ask Austin to look into removing Javascript from the "more quick links" menu. Nicole will look into the "onfocus event" mentioned by ATIC.
3. The group discussed a request to place WorldCat on our home page. While we determined that the home page cannot accommodate the specific resource, we will add it to the "Search Our Collections" page, and make it part of a regular rotation in our "Featured Resource" area.
4. Cascading style sheet templates for Archives: Nicole created some CSS style sheets for the Archives exhibit pages and worked with Lois on how to edit them. These pages use different color schemes each time a new one is posted and will be much easier to update with CSS.
5. Version 3 of the Macromedia Contribute content management software is available for trial use, and has some nice features. It could help us streamline lots of tasks on the web, and Nicole will look into testing it with some of the web authors on our site.
6. Access keys: Nicole met with Tracy, who's been experimenting with access keys in Barton. We'd like to coordinate these as much as possible with the Libraries web site. Nicole will prepare a page explaining what our access keys are, which we can link to from Barton, Vera, and our home page. We will work to synchronize them as much as possible. Though access keys are designed primarily for users with disabilities, they are also of use to anyone who prefers to use keyboard shortcuts in place of a mouse.
Next meeting:Wednesday, August 4, 2-3:30pm, Barker Conference Room
http://libstaff.mit.edu/webgroup/minutes/20040721.html
Web Advisory Group Home > Minutes > 21 July 2004