[bksvol-discuss] Re: petition to put the new books back on the front page
- From: Ann Parsons <akp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:39:55 -0400
Hi all,
Um, may I put forth some reasons for keeping the web site as it is? I'm sort
of playing devil's advocate, but hear me out.
First, Bookshare is one of those web sites that is navigated by many, many
people, most of whom are blind or visually impaired. Many of these folks are
new to computers, are young children, are folks with physical disabilities and
so on. It is absolutely paramount that we consider the common denominator when
considering web design for a page/site like this. The most important thing to
consider here is the simplicity of the web site. In the old design, the New
Books link was way, way, down the page, buried in a plethora of links about
everything from press releases to News Papers and so on and on, the links
continued and continued and continued until you were drowning in links,
drowning in the plethora of information. Folks, for somebody who knows little
or nothing about web sites, a page with more than twenty links on it is a
nightmare to navigate. People like this do not know how to use a Links List.
they do not know how to use the placemarker feature of Jaws and Window-Eyes,
something you guys have forgotten too, I guess. All they know is that if they
press their tab key, they will go from link to link. Have more than twenty
links on a page, and people will become frustrated real fast, folks, real fast!
Granted, the Skip Navigation Link *does* work, but *only* if you understand
how to use it.
You guys ever heard of Guide? Well, it's a new simplified interface for
working with your computer. It's web navigation is *that* simple. It doesn't
even *have* the Links List or anything.
If you look at this new page, guys, putting the Newest Books under Browse makes
perfect sense. You wanna browse the collection, so you go to browse. Where
would you put the newest link, guys? Then somebody's gonna want the Authors
link and the Best Sellers link and on and on. No, keep it simple. Keep it
streamlined. You want to browse, then browse, new old authors, titles,
categories, whatever. Those of you who are canny computer folks, use your
Links List, use your placemarker, use your favorites, or put the dingdong link
on your desktop. Be proactive. Be independent. Make the web site work for
you, don't make it more complicated than it needs to be.
Sorry for my rant, but really, there are several ways to make the Newest Books
accessible to you, folks, you've just not explored all the possibilities. My
motto is "Why aggravate yourself?"
I have the homepage of both the Bookshare and the BARD site on my desktop.
It'd be the easiest thing in the world to put a link to the newest books on
your desktop. Here's how.
1. Go to the Newest Books page.
2. If in IE, press f6.
3. Do a ctrl-c.
4. Go to your desktop, and make sure that no item is selected.
5. Press the context Menu Key, or Applications Key, whatever you call it.
6. Arrow down to New. If new isn't there, press escape, go back to the
desktop and press ctrl-space to unselect the items.
7. Go back to the context Menu and arrow down to new.
8. Press 'enter'.
9. Arrow down to shortcut.
10. Press 'enter'.
11. You'll be placed in a wizard at an edit box. Press ctrl-v.
12. tab to next and press the spacebar.
13. You will find yourself at another edit box. Add a name for your shortcut.
14. Tab to finish and press the spacebar. Voila!
Ann P.
--
AAnn K. Parsons
Portal Tutoring
Email: akp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web Site: http://www.portaltutoring.info
blog: http://www.samobile.net/users/akp
Skype: Putertutor
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost." JRRT
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