The UF Libraries Web site, uflib.ufl.edu, has been redesigned to make it more user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing. The new home page was released today for public testing and will be officially launched on Feb. 16.
"We created a new home page with the user in mind," said Matthew Daley, co-designer of the site. "It's very unique and very colorful."
The current site will have a link to the new page, which was created in about six months, Daley said.
According to Michele Crump, interim director for UF's Technical Services Management Group, the current Web site has not been updated for more than two years and was due for a change.
"There was too much information for people to really find things," Crump said. "There were lots of links, and we think it was confusing to the user. We're trying to make it simpler."
The new design aims to highlight frequently used areas like online journals and databases
The site will also feature special displays, news items and events.
"People will have a week to look at it, try some things out and send some comments to our Web master," Crump said. "It's a work in progress."
So far, the site has received mixed reviews.
Iona Malanchuk, a librarian at UF's College of Education, doesn't mind the difference.
"We're in the world of computers, which means constant change," she said. "I believe this is a sincere attempt to improve things."
Others, however, are worried about how the change will affect users.
"Once we do our instruction and show folks how to navigate the site, it can be confusing for them when it changes in the middle of a semester," wrote Pat Reakes, librarian at the journalism school's Allen H. Neuharth Library, in an e-mail.
Daley said although the timing is not ideal, releasing the site now will provide time for user feedback and further improvement.
Crump said users should be able to add a personal touch to the Web site this summer. "[The Web master] is designing a page that you can make your own 'my library,'" Crump said. The feature would allow users to bookmark certain journals or pages they frequently use, she said.
The redesign did not cost UF any money, Daley said.
