kur link us web redesign example

7/29/2019 Kur Link Us Web Redesign Example

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Final

DocumentationProject One

Will Kurlinkus


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01Introduction Entity

The Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives

URLhttp://daln.osu.edu/

SiteDescription The Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives (DALN) is a publicly available archive ofpersonal literacy stories in a variety of formats (text, video, audio) that attempts to

provide a historical record of literacy practices and values of contributors.

The DALN attempts to invite peoples of all ages, races, communities, backgrounds,

and interests to contribute stories about how they read, write, compose meaning, andlearned to do so.

02Intended Users Users and Primary Goals

1. Contributors: need to be able to understand submission formats and guidelines;learn what a literacy narrative is; search, find, and view narratives that might besimilar to their narrative; and easily submit. Because of the diversity of

contributors, submissions standards and computer skills cannot be assumed andneed to be taught.

2. Literacy researchers: need to be able to easily search the archive for narratives bysubmitter data (age, location, occupation, gender, identity), narrative topic(standardized key terms), medium, date submitted, and period written about. They

also need to be able to know what data they can legally use in research reports andhow to cite it.

3. Teachers: college teachers of English/writing often use the site as a writingassignment by asking their students to submit. Teachers need lesson plans,

including: tips for composing narratives in multiple formats, handouts, andreadings about literacy narratives.

4. Collectors: a large group of users collect the literacy narratives of others. They

need to know the DALNs guidelines on collection, IRB information, andinterview tips.


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03Keys to Success Site Purpose

The purpose of the DALN is to preserve first-hand accounts of the variety of 20th

and

21

st

Century literacies that have historically occurred in the US, so that researchersand teachers can gain a better understanding of how to teach reading and writing but

also so contributors can reflect on those with similar literacy experiences asthemselves.

Value to EntityThe DALN serves to continue to make the Ohio State University a leader in literacy

studies by reflecting their critical involvement in literacy histories and teaching.

Improvements1. Most pages are text heavy;

2.

User has to scroll down to view full content on main page;3. Homepage could use video examples to better introduce users to the literacy

narrative;4. Color layout is hard to read;

5. Individual narrative pages could be more browsable through the use of bettersummaries and thumbnails;

6. Lower-level internal links could be used to connect similar topics, themes,contributors, etc.;

7. Navigation bar is difficult to use; you cant tell what level of the site youre on.

04Design Considerations Site Requirements

1. Searchability,2. Instruction on submission,

3. Teaching resources,4. Data collection resources.

AdditionsWhile most components are currently available, better browsability of text, morepleasant visual aesthetic, and better navigation are a necessity.

The client has requested a new homepage in which a featured groups narratives can

rotate monthly.

Identity/BrandThere isnt necessarily any branding that must be maintained beyond the title

DALN. A logo might be useful.

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05Current Site Solution

Homepage

The current homepage serves the purpose of introducing the the literacy narrative and

as a home base for navigation. It is text-heavy and could use more self-explanatorynavigation.

Homepage istext-heavy.Cou ld usebold ing and l inkf rom text b lock

The t i t le andimage icons canbe kept . Theyregood look ing.

The c l ient has requested thatthe homepage inc lude arotat ing set o f representat iveexamples or featuredco l lect ions.

Redundant l inks in the textb lock. Unexp la ined l inks in thenav igat ion area. Cou ld usescro l l over exp lanat ions.

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Homepage: Second Half

St i l l the f i rs t page. Pagemust be scro l led down toreach th is addi t iona lcontent .

None of these search andbrowse features are rea l ly se l fexp lanatory unt i l you c l i ck .Scro l l over exp lanat ions fora l l l inks would be usefu l .Not sure the purpose ofth is box. I t hasredundant log in andreg is ter l inks .

No need to have both anadvanced search and aqu ick search.

Th is browse l inkis redundant ; i ttakes you to thesame l is t o fDALNcol lect ions onth is page.

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Individual Narrative Page

This is one of the lowest-level pages, the individual literacy narrative. It is wherepeople download the narrative; find out information about the author, submission

date, location, topic, etc.; and learn about how they can use the narrative for research(usually the narrative is under a creative commons license). The page could use

thumbnails for better browsability and add links to similar topics, date ranges, etc.

Navigat ion bar needs tomore c lear ly ind icate pagehierarchy and locat ion.Page needs some sort o fv isua l thumbnai l to ind icatecontent .

Needs l ink to other pages of s imi larcontent at th is low- leve l h ierarchy.

Page doesn t exp la inwhy there are two f i lesinstead of one.

The t ime per iod thenarrat ive is aboutmight be usefu l .

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Submission Guidelines/Teaching Material Page

The submission guidelines/educational materials page is where users go to find out

about literacy narratives; submission guidelines; tips to make an appealing narrative;and handouts for students. The page is too text heavy and the links could include

scroll over explanations.

Navigat ion bar is d i f ferentf rom the ind iv idua l pagedes ign.

Text co lor is ug ly .Pure text is hard toread.

L inks aren tse l f -ev ident .

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06Alternative Examples

1. Youtube: Individual Page Modelhttp://www.youtube.com

Inc ludesv ideothumbnai l .

Inc ludesthumbnai lsof otherre latedpages.

Inc ludes a comments sect ion wh ichmight be usefu l for the arch ive .Espec ia l l y i f par t ic ipants d idn t createor ed i t the i r own v ideo. They cou ldcomment on the in terv iewersportraya l .

H i t countind icatespopular i tyof page.

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2. Archives of American Art: Homepage Modelhttp://www.aaa.si.edu/

Inc ludes the rotat ingfeatured content thatthe c l ient wants .One se l f -exp lanatorysearch bar .

Same search bar ava i lab leon a l l pages.Hasrecognizab lelogo.

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3. National Archives: Homepage Model http://www.archives.gov/

Main l inks inc luderepresentat ive images andbr ie f descr ipt ions.

New contentappears in th isrecent news bar .

A var ie ty o f Web 2.0features that cou ldbenef i t the DALN.Each main l inkaddresses ad i f ferent user .

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4. Einstein Archives Online: Homepage Modelhttp://www.alberteinstein.info/

L inks inc lude scro l l -overexp lanat ion funct iona l i ty .Image he lpsexp la incontent .

A l l content v iewablewi thout scro l l ing down.

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07Current Site Map


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08Proposed Site Map


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09Design Concept


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10Design Prototype

1. Homepage


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2. Homepage Pop-Up Function


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4. Teach Level 1


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5. Teach Lower Level Page

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