I can commiserate!
The tactic we've used at our university was to use the data migration from
LGv1 to LGv2 as a means to convene guide authors and rethink
* the future overall layout of our guides (new side menu has been our
design choice but complicates preexisting three- and four-column layouts);
* their intended use (pastiche of related but independent boxes on the
guide or something with a simple flow/concise content -- it's a
philosophical discussion, for sure);
* breakdown of content (when it is appropriate to have long detailed pages
or break down into sub-pages, which have their own issues...);
* the strict use of accessibility policies (must set up strict policies
about funky colors & fonts, minimize use HTML tables, content column
layout
w.r.t. responsive design, etc.).
I feel our internal conversations and meetings about rethinking LibGuides
v2 with our staff have gone over well, and reiterating appropriate "best
practices" or suggestions whenever I field a LibGuides question have
birthed some improvements in guide construction. It's an ongoing battle,
of
course!
There are some heavy-handed tactics in place here too. For instance we've
hidden the Fonts button in the guide editor using CSS.
span#cke_12 {display:none;}
This doesn't stop custom html or copy/pasting Word content (ugh) from
getting through, but it does allows us to say, "nope, we're not supporting
Comic Sans!"
On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 12:56 PM, Joshua Welker <wel...@ucmo.edu> wrote:
I lol'ed several times reading your message. I feel the pain. Well, it
is
nice to know I am not alone. You are right that this in particular is an
organizational problem and not a LibGuides problem. But unfortunately it
has been an organizational problem at both of the universities where
I've
worked that use LibGuides, and it sounds like it is a problem at many
other libraries. I'm not sure what it is about LibGuides that brings out
the most territorial and user-marginalizing aspects of the librarian
psyche.
Does anyone have any positive experience in dealing with this? I am on
the
verge of just manually enforcing good standards even though it will
create
a lot of enmity. LibGuides CMS has a publishing workflow feature that
would force all guide edits to be approved by me so that I could stamp
this stuff out each time it happens.
To enforce, or not to enforce, that is the question--
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of
outrageously poor usability,
Or to take arms against a sea of ugly guides,
And by forcing compliance with standards and best practices, end them?
Josh Welker
-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of
Will Martin
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 11:34 AM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LibGuides v2 - Templates and Nav
4. Admin controls are not very granular. With most aspects of editing
a guide, you either have the option of locking down styles and
templates completely (and oh your colleagues will howl) or allowing
everything (and oh your eyeballs will scream). Some of these things
could very well be improved in the future, and some probably will not.
This! My librarians have successfully resisted every attempt to impose
any kind of standardization. Visual guidelines? Nope. Content
guidelines? Nope. Standard system settings? Nope. Anything less than
100% free reign appears to be anathema to them.
The result, predictably, is chaos. Our guides run the gamut. We have
everything:
- Giant walls of text that no one ever reads.
- Lovingly crafted lists of obscure library sources that rarely (if
ever) bear any relation to what the patron is actually trying to do.
- A thriving ecosystem of competing labels. Is it "Article Indexes",
"Article Databases", just plain "Databases", or something more exotic?
Depends which apex predator rules this particular neck of the jungle.
- Green text on pink backgrounds with maroon borders. Other pages in
the
same guide might go with different, equally eye-twisting color schemes.
I'm not even sure how he's doing that without access to the style sheet,
but he's probably taught himself just enough HTML to mangle things in an
effort to use "friendly" colors.
- Some guides have three or even FOUR rows of tabs. With drop-down
submenus on most of them, naturally.
- A few are nicely curated and easy to use, but they're in a distinct
minority.
I've tried. I've pushed peer-reviewed usability studies at them. I've
reported on conference sessions explaining exactly why all these things
are bad. I've brought them studies of our own analytics. I've had
students sit down and get confused in front of them. Nothing has gotten
through, and being the only web type at the library, I'm outnumbered.
Just the thought of it makes me supremely tired.
I'm sorry if this has digressed. LibGuides is not at fault, really.
It's an organizational problem. LibGuides just seems to be the flash
point for it.
Will
--
Jesse Martinez
Web Services Librarian
O'Neill Library, Boston College
jesse.marti...@bc.edu
617-552-2509
