June 11, 2007

Great explanation of usability / design

SFX / programmer / librarian whiz David Walker has created a simplified "SFX menu" (OpenURL resolver / thingie that gets you from citation to full-text) for Cal State. You can see the simplified menu (note that links aren't live) or ...

watch David's flash presentation about how he came to create the simplified interface. Here's what David says about it: "Do library users find the SFX menu confusing? Here I dissect some problems with the SFX menu and show a simpler interface developed at Cal State. Includes audio (no transcription) and slides. Time: 20 minutes. Also includes files to download." (takes a while to load, but it's worth every second of wait time, and worth the 20 minutes to watch)

It's great to see the default SFX menu morph into the simplified menu -- and it's a wonderful demonstration of usability / design principles.

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