B103: Website Redesign: Techniques & Tools

Tuesday, March 28, 2017
1:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Join three web experts to learn about tips, tools, and techniques for taking the pain out of website redesigns. Haugh provides advice on the visual design of your next site and shows some examples of library web redesigns. Degler takes a look at why many libraries are using popular, free, CSS-based frameworks such as Bootstrap; explains how the grid layout works; and shows how the built-in responsive design layouts can deliver a site that works on desktop, smartphones, and tablets. Often the biggest challenge in redesign isn’t the visual design, content management system or coding. It’s the people and politics. Everyone thinks they know what the library website should look like, but no two people—let alone groups—can ever agree. How do you move ahead with a library redesign when you’re facing conflicting demands from the administration, co-workers, users, and stakeholders? Mitchell tackles this challenge head on and points out the weapons that we have at hand—from data to documentation; and discusses how to wield those weapons effectively to win (almost) any fight in order to build a great website. Grab lots of insights and ideas from this experienced panel.