Minutes of the Meeting of November 26, 2003
1:30 pm, Davis Conference Room
Present: Christy Branston, Linda Hastings, Esther Millar (Recorder), Bill Oldfield, Marina Wan (Facilitator), Mike Wang.
Regrets: Chris Gray, Charles Woods
Marina welcomed Christy Branston to the Group.
- Minutes of Meeting, October 15, 2003
Minutes accepted as distributed.
Minutes of Meeting, November 12, 2003
Minutes accepted as distributed.
- Business Arising from the Minutes of October 15, 2003
1. Web Usability - Marina will get Matt 's permission to link to his documents outlining the 7 heuristics for a UW Library Web Site and his evaluation of the undergrad web page. [Link added to the Web Site Maintainer's Online Help page].
5. Ask a Librarian - Use statistics for both e-mail and virtual reference rose after the "Ask a Librarian" button was added to the home page.
Business Arising from the Minutes of November 12, 2003
5. Web Site Indexing - Bill noted that both LT3 and the Science Faculty are okay with dropping the Livelink indexing. A check of Livelink searching statistics by Charles revealed that only about 6 search queries were received over a 4-day period. Bill, with the approval of WebOps, recommends: a) we drop Livelink; b) get George to set up Google searching on the TUG web site; c) we put a Google search up on the Staff Web. He noted that the Google search searches all Library Web and Staff Web pages, but does not index password-controlled pages. ACTION: Bill will give these recommendations to Mark Haslett and hopes to get a decision before our next meeting.
8. CMS - the report was finalized and published at: http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/staff/dlcc/cmf/
CMF_Final_Report.htm. Interest has been generated at the university level and Chris will be demonstrating Plone at a future UCIST meeting.
Marina attended Jack Cooper's meeting on survey handling software. She noted that Jack is only interested in a one-time survey which does not serve our needs. Marina will watch to see how things develop.
- Agenda Review
Secure FTP in DW 2004 MX deferred.
- Co-op Term Project - Progress Report
Mike presented two sessions, together with a JAWS user, on Accessibility issues [these were well received]. With help from Jesse Rodgers, he now has a style sheet that uses styles for layout as well as presentation. You can now view his project files at: http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/staff/validate/
The group asked Mike to prepare a non-technical session for web maintainers on the magic of CSS.
- ISMC discussion on issues regarding content on the Library Web Site
Marina attended the last ISMC meeting where she raised concerns about who manages the overall content of the Library Web site, i.e., reviews the site for duplicate or outdated information, looks at what services could be offered that we currently do not have.
Action items from ISMC included: ISMC will look at the possibility of providing training sessions on how to review one's web pages, e.g., how to search (especially for discipline areas); Susan Routliffe will raise the matter of regularly reviewing web pages at an upcoming Library Manager's meeting.
Web Ops will add the role of overall content management to its Terms of Reference.
ACTION: Marina will consider appropriate wording.
- Co-op Student project in the winter term
David Ian Smith, 1A Computer Engineering, has accepted the position with WebOps. He has work experience in HTML and programming (high school co-op), and has taught computer classes in camps.
- Simple XHTML validation link
In order to show which pages have been validated to XHTML 1.0 Transitional and which pages have been reviewed for accessibility, Esther suggested we add two links to the bottom of each page as appropriate. Because the W3C images had been rejected early on in the project, she suggested the use of text for the links instead of images.
The group decided a higher profile was preferred at this time and asked her to put together a prototype that used reduced versions of the images with code included in a ssi. The XHTML button would include a link for validation; the accessibility button would not be linked to anything.
- Cascading Style Sheets
Since style sheets are beginning to be used in our site, Esther suggested it was time we review what is being done with the view to establishing standards and to providing direction to Mike as he completes the CSS component of his job description.
Mike will alter the Medieval Studies template and stylesheets to illustrate how CSS can handle both layout and presentation.
- Meeting Schedule in 2004
ACTION: Esther will ensure the Conference Rooms are booked for meetings in 2004. Beginning January 7, meetings are scheduled for every other Wednesday, from 1:30-3:00 pm. Meetings will alternate between the Davis and Porter Conference Rooms.
- Around the Table
Web Ops members are invited to a farewell coffee break for Mike, Matt Bohnert, and Helen Yueping He at 10:00 am on December 10 in the Davis Conference Room.
ACTION: Bill will see if another copy of Eric Meyer on CSS is available. [Copy has been received.]
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March 2, 2006
