I have chosen to evaluate my city library’s website at http://www.oxnard.org, although I am very reluctant to say anything negative about it, as my own webpages are still amateurish. On the other hand, I have viewed over 1000 library webpages in the course performing my duties for my job, so maybe I do have a valid opinion.
First, the page layout is not that great. It has a typical banner and left and right sections. But the horizontal navigation panels underneath the banner are all skewed and messed up-looking. Also, the page is probably too wide, because in Firefox, some of the panels ladder over each other. On the good side, the information on the page is presented through links; I have seen many pages where most of the information is put on the home page, and few people would have the will or the gusto to scroll down through all of it. Also, the skewed navigation panels have drop-down menus for additional information, which I really like because it saves space.
The home page overall is not attractive, and this is not only due to layout but also to graphics and color. The city’s logo is blurry, and there are additional link buttons in the banner that are all of different sizes and shapes. The colors are a wingee blue, brown and green. Other photos and links throughout the left and right panels also appear to be placed there at random, as if the home page were a bulletin board, and anyone is able to tack up anything they want.
The links in the left panel are inconsistent. Some are accessed through the text, some through the graphic, and some through both. Some graphics that are links are not labeled. Other links, like those that bring up a page for a branch (there are 3 total), lead to what appears to be an original version of the home page (with different information), but also without the unorganized-looking links, so it looks a lot better.
I think the big problem with this page is that it is old. To my knowledge, I think it has been the same for almost ten years, and as we all know, the technology for building pages has advanced greatly. There are no blogs, no scrolling news feeds, nothing to make the page look interesting. The graphics are flat. This page is a useful portal through which to get library hours, see what’s going on, and to access the catalog. But it’s about as fun to use and look at as a junky old vehicle. It needs an overhaul! I would scrap this page and start from scratch. I’d make the links in the left panel look more like buttons, and probably not put anything much under the banner. I would have a center panel and a right hand panel with a blog and with library news. I would also have a form for a library newsletter. Last, but not least, I’d use better colors, so that the page is more fun to look at. I’d dump that blurry city logo as it looks awful. I would eliminate the unreadable white text over some of the larger orange text that makes it look tattered. There is a lot of work to do on the Oxnard Library site.
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