Dear List members
with reference to Robert's plea for standardising library urls - see
announcement in the E-ACCESS BULLETIN - Issue 42, June 2003. (to subscribe
to this free monthly bulletin, email [log in to unmask] with 'subscribe
eab' in the subject header or go to http://www.e-accessibility.com/ to
subscribe).
In a nutshell, all UK local authorities will be able to use a centrally
developed set of accessible web site components following release of 2.9
million pounds of government funding.
The project and workshops are called LAWS (Local Accessible Websites) and
standardising URLs comes within the metadata standards area.
Whether some sort of standardisation will eventually drill down to those
responsible for library web pages remains to be seen, but I heartily agree
with Robert regarding the </library> approach as being a surefire way to
ensure people find your pages. I use the BBC website regularly - almost as
a benchmark, especially since the publication of their excellent (IMHO)
study of BBCi in terms of its accessibility see:
www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/bbci/pdf/BBCi_Accessibility_Study_7-10-02.pdf
It is easy to go directly say to radio4, or whatever, by simply adding
/radio4 to the bbc.co.uk url.
Regards,
Penny Garrod
Penny Garrod
Public Library Networking Focus
UKOLN
University of Bath BA2 7AY
Tel: +44 (0) 1225 386711
Fax: +44 (0) 1225 385105
email: [log in to unmask]
To join lis-pub-libs go to:
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Ariadne - The UKOLN e-magazine (published quarterly):
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Harden" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 8:45 AM
Subject: Public library URLs
> Why don't all public library authorities use a common and consistent
> form of web address? Why don't they all use /libraries after the
> address of the authority, eg.
>
> www.loamshire.gov.uk/libraries
>
> Some libraries already do. But most have complicated URLs, often
> reflecting the organisational hierarchy they find themselves in. Many
> have unquotably long URLs because of the database structure of the
> site. Simple consistent URLs that followed the same pattern nationwide
> would make library sites easier to find and easier to promote.
>
> There is no technical impediment. Whatever the real URL, the /libraries
> address can be the public face of it, even on database sites.
>
> You may have noticed that this is the style of naming that the BBC uses
> and it comes in very handy when the address of a particular site needs
> to be referred to.
>
> Robert Harden
> ______________________
> [log in to unmask]
> www.harden.dial.pipex.com
> ______________________
>
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