Introducing mOPAC^beta ; FaceLift and Maps updates

August 7 - We're pleased to introduce a beta version of the mOPAC. Browse over to the library catalog on a mobile device, and the catalog transforms itself into a smartphone-friendly interface. There's lots of features yet to be added, but searching and basic account management is available in mobile form.

FaceLift received an update with support for mobile and a couple new features, including key commands and query preservation. A Maps update release provides support for mobile as well.

TopPosted August 7, 2012 by Brandon Fuller.

GUI 2.0, Maps 3, and introducing FaceLift

July 17 - Moments ago, we went live with the new OPAC design. We're very excited about this new interface from both a design and a usability standpoint, and we think it signifies the most advanced and efficient searching experience we've provided to patrons yet.

Please take a moment to browse through the new OPAC and let Ben Ide, Sam Cook, or me know what you think. We greatly appreciate your comments, and will use them to further refine the interface for an update release planned for later in August.

Congratulations to all as we mark the third anniversary of joining the Koha family!

TopPosted June 1, 2012 by Brandon Fuller.

Sandbox Improvements

June 1 - A lot of new, exciting things got pushed into the sandbox yesterday and this morning. Here's a breakdown of some of the changes:

The left-hand navigation has been abolished in favor of putting those links at the bottom of the welcome page. This frees up a substantial amount of real estate, since the only time any sort of left-hand sidebar appears now is on the results page (i.e. the "Refine your search" column). The space gained is most appreciable on bib record pages, where content is left-justified along the edge of the site container. If this were the only change to get pushed into production, it would be a huge improvement.

The search bar has been completely reformatted to accommodate the format limiter dropdown menu. All search options are inline, the "start a new search" image link has been narrowed, the unnecessary "Search" label has disappeared, and the Cart and List menu buttons are not so buttony anymore. They take up much less space, and even the menus themselves have been reformatted for a more modern and consistent look.

The global header image has also been heavily revised, abandoning the original 3-panel look for a 70/30 two-panel approach. This helps keep the flow and general appearance of the site clean and not so broken up as before. The new header is still image-mapped appropriately.

The results page was spruced up a bit as well. The highlighting of search terms has been modified to help words stand out more, while adhering to the general modern site design. Each item in the list has been vertically separated more from its neighbors, for clarification. There are now only two font colors: red for the item title (which has now been emboldened and made slightly larger as well), and grey for all other pertinent information. The "No cover image available" dummy has been revised a bit to be less obtrusive and blend neatly in with the rest of the site design.

The Advanced Search page has also been neatened up. Enough said.

The search results navigator buttons on bib record pages now behave properly: The "previous" button is unavailable for the first result item, and the "next" button is unavailable for the last.

All buttons and menus are slowly being made consistent. So far, the search submit buttons, page navigation, and results navigator buttons are in the new format, and the cart and list menus are in the new pop-up menu format as well.

Steady progress!

TopPosted June 1, 2012 by Brandon Fuller.

...And We're Back.

May 30 - Here's to the first news update of the year! Yes, it's the end of May.

First thing's first: the "koha-testing" directory on LIBILL, which has been supporting the new OPAC design for nearly two years and Maps for over one year, has migrated to a new directory (still on LIBILL) named simply "koha". The suffix "-testing" didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense anymore. Let's face it, the grace period rivaled Google's habit of leaving "Beta" attached to its newer services for years.

Furthermore, the development website (and therefore the "koha" directory tree) has been restructured a bit so it makes more sense.  It used to be that all the new images and CSS for Koha lived in the "components" directory, which was getting too confusing along with the other folders used for the development site.  In an effort to really separate the koha files from the development website files, the "components" folder has been renamed to "gui".  So... everything that the OPAC and sandbox look at now lives in http://libill.hartford.edu/koha/gui/*.  Maps has been moved into there as well.

Along with that, the "Components" tab on this site (see where it might get confusing?) has been renamed "Design". All the information that used to live on the Components page is now found under the Development tab where it really belongs. The Design page now highlights some of the great features that we've managed to work into our customized OPAC, like Librarian Chat, Maps, and soon-to-be other patron-friendly things now that we have XSLT control (insert evil laughter).

Since the migration of the Components page to the Development page added quite a bit of developer material, the Development page has been split up into separate pages, similar to the Maps section of the site. Codes, packages, protocols, and change logs now all live on their own page under the umbrella of Development.

And of course, the not-so-useful Sandbox Viewer tab has been replaced by a Mobile tab in preparation for developing mobile technology. More information on that to follow shortly, as things get underway.

Hopefully this all makes sense to everyone involved.  All the preferences and URLs have been updated in the OPAC and sandbox to reflect this, and everything works as far as I can tell.  The old "koha-testing" directory will be left online for a little bit, just in case, but at some point all those files will be made to permanently redirect to the appropriate files here, in the new "koha" directory.

TopPosted May 30, 2012 by Brandon Fuller.