Website Release - 3/26/2021
It has been awhile since we had a major website release. Today’s release is the culmination of many months of planning and three weeks of intense work. Many thanks to the development work on both user-facing updates and behind-the-scenes updates from Steven Ng and Chris Doyle. Many thanks to Rachel Cox and Jackie Sipes for working with me on the design and brainstorming ideas. And finally, many thanks to the Web Content Strategy Group for providing feedback and recommendations on this work.
Highlighted Patron/Library Staff-Facing Updates
WYSIWYG editor
On the backend, we’ve implemented a new editor for the paragraph content on each page. This new editor will allow images to be embedded inline in the body of the page. It will also allow video content to be added to individual pages.
Drop-down Mega menu
We initially started this process with a desire to add a drop-down menu to our primary navigation. That plan morphed into a mega menu that shows all of the primary and secondary navigational items from the main menu. The goal here is to better demonstrate what content a user will expect to find on subpages.
Also included on the mega menus is a “Quick Links” section. Starting in January, we monitored click tracking on the “About”, “Visit & Study” and “Research Services” pages. On all of these pages, the “Quick links” section in the footer received a lot of clicks. As a result, we decided to more prominently feature these quick links.
Implementing the mega menus is big step in the ongoing process to streamline web content across all pages. Looking at the mega menu, it is much easier to see all of our web content in one place and strive for consistency.
Epub Reader
We’ve added an epub reader to be used primarily for the annual report and semi-annual Speaking Volumes Newsletter. The epub reader will allow patrons to read an epub version of the document without downloading it. The options to download both the epub and a PDF will continue to exist.
Virtual Tours
The Blockson Collection developed a virtual tour compliment to their Black Lives Always Mattered! exhibition. They have also added a 360-degree view of their reading room. Charles Library staff have also started building virtual tours and 360-degree views of various spaces and these can now be embedded on the website as they are available.
Changes to the Homepage
Working with the Library Communications team, we added two new sections to the homepage of the library; Events and Library News. Below the main section of the homepage, we have pulled in three highlighted events and three “library news” items. We’ve also updated what used to be the Library News block to be “Quick Links”.
Full list of all updates
New Features
MAN-998: Update versioning to include actiontext fields (part of the WYSIWYG editor upgrade)
MAN-1018: Apply styles to rich text editor and rich text content areas (part of the WYSIWYG editor upgrade)
MAN-1019: Populate records draft description with existing descriptions (part of the WYSIWYG editor upgrade)
MAN-1016: Implement feature tests for rich text editor (part of the WYSIWYG editor upgrade)
MAN-1017: Remove action draft gem (part of the WYSIWYG editor upgrade)
MAN-1036: Add rich text drafts to playbook before deployment
MAN-994: Implement new WYSIWYG editor
MAN-1062: Implement mega-menu drop-down
MAN-1060: Add epub.js epub reader to manifold (website)
MAN-1068: Update Floor 4 floorplan
MAN-1057: Update to Blockson homepage
MAN-1063: Implement homepage changes
MAN-1030: Updated styling prototypes for drop-down menus
MAN-1046: Update journal finder link
MAN-1056: Add 24/7 space to library hours page
Bug Fixes
MAN-1048: DSS homepage not appearing in Google search results
MAN-1058: Instruction form problem
MAN-1023: Fix failing service form draft specs
MAN-1065: problem with SCRC form
Infrastructure Updates
MAN-1010: Research some of the graceful failover options implemented in Library Search
MAN-1045: Fix hex color red on website