New Website Launched
New Website Features
Some features of the new site include:
- An improved, modernized layout with clearer graphics and a masthead that features the front of the building
- A new navigation based on actual usage, with all major pages one click away, and 90% of all pages two clicks away
- ADA Section 508 compliance
- Search-engine optimized using proper HTML tags, filenames, and other considerations
- An interactive map to help first-time patrons find the library
- Revised and current information
- An easy-to-read "Upcoming Events" listing
- Improved HTML and CSS authoring to make future updates easier
On Friday, October 23, your Lodi Public Library launched a redesigned website meant to ease navigation to the wealth of information and resources available to its patrons.
The new site consists of over 60 pages, reduced from nearly one-hundred pages in the prior website.
Based on actual usage data from the month of August, the site navigation and homepage was redesigned to bring the most oft-used features into the spotlight. Searching for media, contacting the library, and finding directions to the library were the top three destinations.
The new website was designed by Lodi resident, David Diskin who owns Applied Office. Diskin has been a long-time volunteer to the Lodi Public Library in the past -- offering free computer classes to patrons and providing free consulting to the library staff and trustees.
"As a designer, it will be very interesting to see how some of the website's traffic statistics change over the next few months. We've been monitoring metrics such as average visit duration, bounce rate, and pages per visit, since August," Diskin says. "I've peeked at this data since the site's launch on Friday, and although it's way too early to tell, all of these metrics have significantly improved along with others."
Diskin is referring to site traffic analyzed by Google Analytics, a free service that helps website designers understand the usage of their websites. For example, over the last four days visitors to the Lodi Public Library site have averaged 3.69 pages per visit, spending an average of 2.5 minutes per visit. Using the same days the week prior, an average visitor only looked at 1.73 pages per visit and spent just over 1 minute doing so. This means visitors are reading more about the library, spending more time on the site.
As part of his commitment to the Lodi community, Diskin has generously donated 25% of his time to the project. Diskin also maintains websites for other local organizations such as the LOEL Center, World of Wonders Science Museum, and Leadership Lodi.
The new site has been designed for use with modern browsers such as Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3, and Safari, but was also coded to work well with older browsers and mobile devices. The site also is better designed for those with vision impairments.
What do you think of the new site?
Praise or otherwise, we want to hear from you, especially if you've discovered a problem. Please send an email to david@AppliedOffice.net.