Webmeisters
(L4L)
- Accessibility
- Bibliography
- Design
- Digitization
- Graphics
- Help
- Metadata
- Testing/Compatibility
- Usability
Accessibility
Accessibility
Primer Page
From the International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet, this
page includes links to the legal issues surrounding accessibility on the web.
AWARE
Center
AWARE stands for "accessible web authoring resources and education." The
HTML Writers Guild has created a wonderful resource for web authors to learn
about web accessibility. Be sure to read Why
Does It Matter? Arguments for Accessible Web Design.
Web
Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Everything you ever wanted to know about accessibility on the web.
If this site tends to overwhelm you, focus on the links listed under
Resources > Guidelines,
Checklists, Techniques in the colored bar to the right.
WebAIM
This site offers articles, tutorials, simulations among its many resources related to web accessibility.
Accessibility Tools:
Lynx
Viewer
Test your web site with Lynx Viewer! Enter your web site address in the box
provided on this page. You will see how people using the web with a text-only
browser.
Vischeck
This tool allows you to see your web site as someone with colorblindness would
see it.
Bibliography
Here is a brief list of materials you may find helpful.
Books
- Building the Service-Based Library Web Site by Kristen L. Garlock and Sherry Piontek
- Creating a Winning Online Exhibition by Martin R. Kalfatovic
- Designing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen
- Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug
- Getting and Staying Noticed on the Web by Phil Bradley
- Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed by Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir
- The Non-Designer's Web Book by Robin Williams
Articles
Design
About.com
Web Design
Loads of information and helpful tips on a variety of web design topics. Includes:
help for pros; tips for Dreamweaver, FrontPage, and Photoshop; HTML; graphics;
legal issues.
Web Page Design for Designers
Web Design Articles is a good starting point for reading about web page design. Most articles cover basic and advanced topics using low-tech language.
Web
Pages That Suck
"Where you learn good Web design by looking at bad Web design." Don't
miss "The Daily Sucker!"
Web
Safe Color Chart
Consult this chart for RGB or hexcodes for web safe colors. You may also want
to try exploring Web Safe
Color Combinations - just choose a background color then choose a text
color, and a page will be rendered with your selections so you can see how
the combination looks online.
Digitization
OCLC Digitization & Preservation Services
OCLC has collected some great information about digitization and preservation, including information about grants assistance. Use the resources page to locate funding sources, digitization grant writing guides, standards and best practices, and discussions groups.
Graphics
Free
Images
2,500 free stock photos are available for your use. If you use an image,
you will need to include a credit to this site. See "About Us" for
more information.
Mediabuilder
Free backgrounds, bullets, animations, and other web elements. Mediabuilder
also provides free products like GIFWorks and 3D Text Maker. Give them
a try!
Microsoft
Design Gallery Live
Loads of clip art, photos, etc. to use on your web site. Be sure to read the
EULA first and agree to their terms of use.
See also: Free Image Sites and Online Editors in the Webmeister How To Files.
Help
Macromedia
Dreamweaver Support Center
Use the menus in the column to the right to find help on your topic of choice.
Web4Lib
Electronic Discussion
Need to ask a web development question of a larger group? Sign on to this email
discussion list to hear what other library webmeisters are working on and to
ask questions you need help with.
Webmonkey
"The web developer's resource." Another site with loads of information
and nice tutorials. There's a lot here, so start by selecting your expertise
level - beginner, builder, or master.
World
Wide Web Consortium
W3C includes information on HTML, accessibility, CSS, XHTML and more. For those
webmeisters trying to stay on top of the latest developments in web technologies.
Metadata
Metadata is, quite simply, cataloging for web sites. While we haven't done much with metadata at OWLS yet, it is something to keep in mind for the future as our web sites grow.
Dublin
Core Metadata Initiative
Dublin Core is one standard for web site metadata. Give the Dublin
Core Metadata Editor a try!
Testing/Compatibility
AnyBrowser.com
"Your source for browser compatibility verification." Look under Our
Tools for free help with your site design - my favorites are the Screen
Size Test and Site Viewer.
WebXACT
WebXACT will examine your web site and give you a report of how your design has
done in relation to accessibility standards. Don't be surprised if your
site doesn't pass muster - it's very picky!
NetMechanic
This site offers testing tools to buy, but you can try most of them out before
you order. The Webmaster tips page has some good information on everything
from promotion to design.
Usability
UseIt.com
This site is maintained by the well-known usability expert, Jakob Nielsen.
The Alertbox includes his bi-weekly column, and Reports includes more good
info. Be sure to read his books (a list is included on this page) - they're
great!
Usable
Web
"Usable Web is a collection of links about information architecture, human
factors, user interface issues, and usable design specific to the World Wide
Web. Value adds: descriptions, multiple organizational schemes (by date, topic,
destination, author, popularity), search engine queries to even more resources."
Writing
for the Web
Writing for web sites should be very different than writing for a print product.
This article from Jakob Nielsen will help you see why.
Usability
News
This online newsletter from the Software Usability Research Laboratory at Wichita
State University includes excellent reports on fonts, online reading styles,
and more. A good place to read up on current web trends and studies in usability.
Supporting public libraries in Outagamie and Waupaca counties