Nine things not to have on your Web site

Jeff Wuorio posted the following suggestions on ConnectIT USA. Most are common sense, but some may not have occurred to you.

1. Your photo on the home page: It can detract from why the visitor should be there in the first place. “Your Web site should be all about the viewer, not about you.” (Larina Kase, Performance and Success Coaching, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
2. Visual (and audio) overkill: Can be confusing, unprofessional, take too long to load, and definitely distracting.
3. Too many confusing menu options: Offer a variety of content, but keep the site structure simple.
4. Information that could lead to privacy or security breaches: Leave employee photos, e-mail addresses and personal details about them off the site. “Confine details [on products] to what is absolutely needed to attract and entice customers into buying, and to not give away the company store.”
5. Information that could tip off competitors: “Certain bits of information might seem innocuous on their own, but when pieced together could reveal more than you want about your business practices, strategic partners, corporate clients, and your internal organization.”
6. Undue jargon and techno-speak: “Keep your copy and content straightforward—I if need be, have a non-expert review it for clarity.”
7. Content that makes your business sound too good to be true: “Don’t make your Web site an ad. Make it an interactive conversation with your audience.”
8. Unsupervised chat rooms: Moderate to avoid spam, off-color comments, potential security breaches, etc.
9. Bad links and outdated material: Outdated content or broken links will turn customers off—fast.

URL: http://www.connectitnews.com/usa/story.cfm?item=3483

GETTING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS, WHEREVER THEY ARE

Computers in Libraries 29(1), January 2009

The entire issue is on Providing Access When & Where They Want It, which is good reading anytime, but there are two articles that think are especially important:

West, Jessamyn, Checklists for the Distributed Librarian (tech tips for every librarian column), pp. 38-39.

West provides good ways to make sure you are getting to your customers via the website, the catalog, and social networking services. I like that she ends with a section on “counting what counts.”

Chudnov, Daniel, Practical Geek-Keeping, or, How to Hire—And Keep—Good Technical Staff, pp. 25-26.
Librarians and IT people are often at odds, so making sure you hire good ones and can communicate with them is critical. He emphasizes the importance of communication in the hiring decision.

THE JOY OF COMPUTERS

I found a neat guide to help you with your IT issues. TechSoup has a set of guides called MaintainIT Project Cookbooks. All three would be good for OPLs, but one is designed especially for us: The Joy of Computing: Small & Rural Libraries. Each chapter is called a “Meal Plan” (a cute contrivance—ignore it). They include: Focusing on Your Ingredients for Success, Meat and Potato Patron Computers, Volunteers for the Kitchen, Computer Culinary Academy—Getting the Technology Training You Need, and Future Menus for Library Technology Services. There is also an appendix on tips and tricks and an index.

This is all available as a free download or you can purchase a bound copy for only $8.92.

The other two cookbooks are: Recipes for a 5-Star Library and Planning for Success.

“The MaintainIT Project is an effort of CompuMentor, home to TechSoup, a non-profit serving fellow nonprofits and [US] public libraries with technology information, resources, and project donations.” It is funded by the Gates Foundation.

Another service of TechSoup is the provision of software at discounts up to 90 percent. There are other programs (including computers) available for public libraries that are 501(c)(3) organization.

URLs:
Free download: http://www.maintainitproject.org/files/TheJoyofComputing-061807.pdf
The other Cookbooks: http://www.maintainitproject.org
Purchase: http://www.cafepress.com/maintainit
Software discounts: http://www.techsoup.org/stock/libraries/default.asp

HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN YOUR PUBLIC COMPUTERS?

The MaintainIT Project, from TechSoup and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has tips and techniques for dealing with technology. There are free “cookbooks” to download. The first two are A Cookbook for Small and Rural Libraries and Recipes for a 5-star Library. Also available are reports from individual public libraries on their experiences with IT.

URL: http://maintainitproject.org/

GEEK ONLINE

The How-To Geek is a useful site if you don’t have your own computer guru handy. There are short articles on subjects such as: increase size of Windows Vista taskbar previews, change Outlook startup folder, change the default font in Excel 2007, and more (many of which I can’t even understand the description, much less the answers). Not everything is about Microsoft, either; there are hints for Foxfire, Apple, Linux, and other platforms (though most are MS, probably since we need the most help with it). You can even subscribe through RSS to get notice of the latest additions.

URL: http://www.howtogeek.com

IT BOOKS TO DOWNLOAD

“This site was created as a service to those who are learning programming and might not have the resources available to purchase books.” The site also has links to blogs, free e-books, free engineering books, OPACs in India, selected quotations, and website designing basics. From Akhila Matrix, an Indian company.

URL: http://www.akhilamatrix.com/computer_science.htm

GARTNER’S IT PREDICTIONS

Gartner, Inc. released today 10 key predictions that showcase the trends and events that will change the nature of business and IT in 2007 and beyond. These predictions are for general technology areas rather than specific to industries or roles within an organization.

Here are the ones I think will impact librarians most.

Blogging and community contributors will peak in the first half of 2007. Given the trend in the average life span of a blogger and the current growth rate of blogs, there are already more than 200 million ex-bloggers. Consequently, the peak number of bloggers will be around 100 million at some point in the first half of 2007.

By the end of 2007, 75% of enterprises will be infected with undetected, financially motivated, targeted malware that evaded their traditional perimeter and host defenses.

By 2010, the average total cost of ownership (TCO) of new PCs will fall by 50%.

URL: Press release: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=499323

WALKING PAPER: IT BLOG

I just ran into this blog by Aaron Schmidt [Thomas Ford Memorial Library, Western Springs, Illinois]. Walking paper deals with "new(ish) information technologies. He explains the blog title, "things like IM and text messaging are like active, animated paper to me." Some of his categories are: audio eBooks, phones in libraries, future libraries, gaming in libraries, teenagers and the library, wifi, and of course instant messaging and information technology.

By the way, Aaron is also a member of the 2005 class of Library Journal Movers and Shakers.

URL: http://www.walkingpaper.org/

VHS'S OBITUARY (CUTE!)

VHS, 30, dies of loneliness: The home-entertainment format lived a fruitful life

by Diane Garrett, Variety, 15 November 2006.

After a long illness, the groundbreaking home-entertainment format VHS has died of natural causes in the United States. The format was 30 years old. No services are planned.
The format had been expected to survive until January, but high-def formats and next-generation vidgame consoles hastened its final decline. "It's pretty much over," concurred Buena Vista Home Entertainment general manager North America Lori MacPherson on Tuesday.

VHS is survived by a child, DVD, and by Tivo, VOD and DirecTV. It was preceded in death by Betamax, Divx, mini-discs and laserdiscs.

Although it had been ailing, the format's death became official in this, the video biz's all-important fourth quarter. Retailers decided to pull the plug, saying there was no longer shelf space.

As a tribute to the late, great VHS, Toys 'R' Us will continue to carry a few titles like "Barney," and some dollar video chains will still handle cassettes for those who cannot deal with the death of the format.

Born Vertical Helical Scan to parent JVC of Japan, the tape had a difficult childhood as it was forced to compete with Sony's Betamax format.

URL for the complete article: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117953955.html?categoryid=20&cs=1