Category Archives: Web Design

Register to Vote on Libology

Posted on 2 September 2012 by Rick Mason

The Democratic National Committee recently released code that allows websites to offer streamlined voter registration pages through a Ruby on Rails interface.  The Obama campaign quickly modified that code to make it even easier to embed in nearly any website. … Continue reading →

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Wikipedia Redefined

Posted on 8 August 2012 by Rick Mason

Wikipedia Redefined is a proposal by a creative agency called NEW! which presents changes that would make Wikipedia more usable, both as a user and as an editor. Having used MediaWiki (the software that runs Wikipedia) extensively, I can vouch that … Continue reading →

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Schema.org

Posted on 3 June 2011 by Rick Mason

Google, Bing and Yahoo have joined their efforts and have created schema.org, a site that offers “a one stop resource” for metadata structure for web pages. There are two schema that stand out as excellent additions to library web sites: … Continue reading →

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How to Create and Run Your Website

Posted on 6 December 2010 by Rick Mason

The San Jose Public Library has launched their new website. It has a clean design, with clear indications of how to find the information being sought.  But what really got my attention was the relationship of the library staff to … Continue reading →

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Google Election Maps

Posted on 1 October 2010 by Rick Mason

The mid-term elections are shaping up to be quite dramatic (although not quite the roller-coaster ride that we had with the 2008 election season). And Google has come up with a new way to visualize the flood of data that … Continue reading →

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New Hybrid ILS Front End

Posted on 14 August 2010 by Rick Mason

A regional group of public libraries in Antwerp, Belgium have announced a new hybrid OPAC for their library software. They have merged WordPress with AquaBrowser to create a web presence with the capabilities they felt were most important for their … Continue reading →

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Unicorn Validator

Posted on 5 August 2010 by Rick Mason

Unicorn, W3C’s unified validation service, is live. As someone who has found the W3C html, css and feed validators to be valuable tools in web design, the merging of the three tools into one interface is a terrific step.  With … Continue reading →

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Posted in Library 2.0, News, Online Services, Web Design | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Positive No

Posted on 3 August 2010 by Rick Mason

No One Nos : Learning to Say No to Bad Ideas is an article on A List Apart that discusses when and how to address those situations where, for a variety of reasons, your best option is to tell someone … Continue reading →

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A Brief History of Markup

Posted on 14 July 2010 by Rick Mason

I just received my copy of the newly-published HTML5 For Web Designers by Jeremy Keith, and remembered that the first chapter is available online.  It is a quick and interesting read, no matter how involved in web design.  In fact, … Continue reading →

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Thoughts on Names

Posted on 29 June 2010 by Rick Mason

A blog post by Patrick McKenzie titled Falsehoods Programmers Believe about Names is a great reminder of the increasing complexity surrounding computer software and personal names. It is presented as a list, and most likely will contain some thought-provoking “rules” … Continue reading →

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Posted in Classification, Definitions, ILS, Libraries, Online Databases, Software, Translation, Web Design | Comments Off

Upgrade

Posted on 17 June 2010 by Rick Mason

Libology has upgraded to WordPress 3.0, which is a significant jump ahead in standards and features.  One of the most interesting, for me, will be support for HTML 5. I have also switched to the Twenty-Ten theme, as it is … Continue reading →

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iPad Peek

Posted on 7 April 2010 by Rick Mason

A good service for web designers who want to see how their website will work on the iPad: iPad Peek found via WeblogToolsCollection

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OpenDNS Hits 1%

Posted on 24 March 2010 by Rick Mason

DNS, aka Domain Name System,  is one of those things that is easily taken for granted.  However, the DNS service we use can determine our overall internet experience. I first encountered OpenDNS at a tech conference, and was intrigued enough … Continue reading →

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Mash-Up the OPAC

Posted on 16 March 2010 by Rick Mason

ILS user groups can be one of the greatest sources of tips, tricks and inspiration for tech-oriented library staff. There was a recent discussion on the Innovative User’s Group that has led to an interesting way to embed various media … Continue reading →

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Posted in Cataloging, ILS, Libraries, Library 2.0, Online Services, Software, Tutorials, Video, Web Design, XML | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Mash-Up is not a new term

Posted on 11 March 2010 by Rick Mason

From the Oxford English Dictionary, via Ron Murray at the Library of Congress, through the Disruptive Library Technology Jester, comes the news that the term “Mash-Up”, with roughly the same meaning as today, is over 150 years old! The modern … Continue reading →

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Accent Folding

Posted on 28 February 2010 by Rick Mason

A List Apart has been a steady source of thought-provoking inspiration over the years, not only from a website building perspective, but also because much of what they publish crosses boundaries and impacts other projects and interests in my life. … Continue reading →

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Posted in ILS, Language, Libraries, Library 2.0, OPAC, Search, Web Design | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Library Website Fails

Posted on 8 December 2009 by Rick Mason

I see these types of messages all the time on library-related websites, and I agree that it sends the message that those who manage those sites don’t have a good grasp of current web technology: Time to Update? by David … Continue reading →

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Springo

Posted on 10 November 2009 by Rick Mason

I have always been a fan of the idea of creating a mediated search engine – one in which the results have been reviewed in order to ensure a lean, relevant results list. The reality of the idea is, shall … Continue reading →

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punypng

Posted on 24 September 2009 by Rick Mason

punypng is a great service for those who work with the .png image format.  If you work on web sites, presentations, or other projects that involve image files, this is really worth adding to your toolkit. What it does is … Continue reading →

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Social Your Site

Posted on 23 August 2009 by Rick Mason

Jenny Levine makes a great case on The Shifted Librarian for adding a feature to your sites that allows users to easily share your content via social networks.  Not only will this offer a way for your users to help … Continue reading →

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