2017-08-09 Meeting notes

Owned by Jackie Sipes
Last updated: Aug 22, 2017
3 min read

Date

Attendees

Agenda 

  • Standards 
    • Guide Page and Layout Section / Templates
      • Revisit number and display of columns
      • Number of tabs
      • Consistency in tabs 
        • Which tabs should be required? 
        • What should they be called?
    • Next steps for standards 
      • Revising any sections 
      • Reviewing full document for usability/readability (e.g. making sure it's consistent in voice and tone, useful to guide authors, etc.)
      • Choosing a tool for standards (google doc, libguide, etc. where will it live?_)
  • Review Nancy's review section (if time)

Meeting notes

Number of columns 

  • We revisited the discussion from last meeting about the number of columns on the page as there was some confusion on what we decided and whether our decisions applied to the landing page or subpages. We will use a two column, rather than three column, layout on the subject and course guide landing pages. These columns will display at approximately 75% and 25% of the page (not including the side tabs). The requirement to use a 2 column or 1 column layout on each subpage remains the same. 
  • We discussed the utility of the landing page image. In the standards, we will recommend an image be added to the 75% width box if desired and provide instructions for embedding an image within a rich text box with details about each field in the image properties (size, border, white space, etc.); however the image will not be a requirement.

Tabs

  • We revisited the number of tabs and agreed to allow 10 or less tabs as this provides a little more flexibility for guide authors. The home tab will be called "Getting Started." Getting Started will be the only required tab for both course and subject guides. For subject guides, we will provide standard tab name options for frequently used content or resource types such as "Find Articles" "Find Books," "Citation Tools" etc. We will also add a statement to the standards that says guide authors may also use their discretion with tab names as we realize terminology may differ from discipline to discipline. 

Other issues related to layout and templates

  • We discussed the placement of the Related Guides box and agreed to move it from the side bar to the bottom of the template to a 75% or 100% width column. The reasoning is that the sidebar content displays first in a mobile display, and this content is not important enough to be pushed to the top of the page. Related Guide links will last be limited to 2-3 for course guides, but there is no limited for subject guides. The reasoning is that users may find the links distracting and click on them finding related information, but not necessarily the most crucial information to help with the task at hand. 

Tool for standards

  • We agreed we will use a LibGuide.

Next steps for standards

Since we wrote the document separately in sections there are likely inconsistencies in writing style, so we will each re-read the document in full. Comments, suggestions, or direct edits are fine, just use your judgement. Read specifically for any issues with the following:

  • consistent voice and tone 
  • need for instructions 
  • need for more justification (additional information from the usability testing we or other librarians did that justify our proposed requirements)
  • need for stronger language 
  • sections that could be more usable/readable (we want the standards to exhibit the best practices we are putting forth, so try and read from the perspective of a guide author)

Review process

  • We held off on discussion of the review process as Nancy is on vacation this week. 

Action items