Minutes
Attending: Patricia O'Neill (chair), Susan Barnes (recorder), Carmen Blankenship, Tony Cosgrave, Michael Engle, Barbara Prior, Nancy Skipper
Barbara will continue to take the responsibility for looking at CUL Web pages with the Lynx browsers, since html output is radically different viewed through the text-based Lynx and many kiosk machines use Lynx rather than Netscape. Pages can also be slightly different viewed with Mosaic but that, and other graphical browsers, will be less of a priority. Sometimes minor adjustments to html can result in enormous improvements in how pages look when viewed with other browsers than Netscape. Barbara will report what she finds about library pages to those who have worked with individual libraries, and she'll also keep the committee informed.
Patricia provided an update on the forms work discussed in the last meeting: Tony C. is working with Keith Jenkins (of OKU Access Services) to update the forms.
The group discussed inclusion of a Cornell University Library logo on CUL unit Web pages, agreed that it would be good to do when such a logo is created.
Much of the meeting was spent discussing the question of whether Web pages intended for staff use should be expected to adhere to the CUL Web design guidelines. The answer seems to lie in the main purpose of staff Web pages. Some pages are informal and not meant to be seen by the public, or by Web users outside of Cornell (an example would be reference staff pages that are sort of the Web equivalent to a vertical file). Other staff Web pages are of national usefulness and, although not meant for library users, are of great interest to our colleagues in other libraries.
These two types of Web pages could be handled differently, with the informal, private staff pages mounted on the CUL server in a way that made them inaccessible outside of Cornell. These pages would not be linked to public Web pages, and their creators would be expected to follow only very minimal design principles.
The staff Web pages of national interest would be made as publicly available as other unit Web pages. These would be linked to from public pages. Creators of these should adhere to CUL Web design guidelines.
Patricia will take the following discussion item to the policy group:
--Should a segment of the CUL Web server be designated for library staff use only and not be open to the world? The uses would be non-public-access, internal; with only minimal guidelines (who put the page up, when, email address of who put it up). This part of the server could serve a dual function: it could also be used as an area where units could test revisions to their public Web pages. The server name could be constructed in such as way that it would be easy for CUL staff to identify URLs of items in the "test," or "staff use only" area of the CUL server.
The next meeting of the Web design group will be 7/2/96, 10:30 am, Olin 106. Forms will be on the agenda.
Susan Barnes
Posted June 21, 1996
MOE