[bksvol-discuss] Re: petition to put the new books back on the front page
- From: "Kim Friedman" <kimfri11@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:41:00 -0700
Hi, Ann, Kim here, it makes perfect sense to find New Books under the Browse
link. It sounds logical to me, at least. Now, what do you make of the web
site at audible.com? Bookshar's web site is a snap to use for me because
there are no hassles: I can check out what's most recently added easily, and
should I wish to download a book, the links for downloading are right under
the title and author information. If I choose to read a synopsis, I can
bypass the download links to do it. I'm no techie, and I know what to do on
the Bookshare web site. I hate jumping through hoops, so why should I spend
my time getting frustrated? Regards, Kim aka Ellinder.
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ann Parsons
Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2009 5:40 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: petition to put the new books back on the
front page
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 Wind ow-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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