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05 Jun 15 ITTS News Meeting – May 20, 2015

  1. Responsive Design for ala.org (Louise)

    The most recent version of the prototype for the new ala.org responsive design is available online.This project is for a responsive theme redesign that will be applied to all ala.org microsites, thus affecting all division and round table sites. While divisions will continue to have their own branding and color schemes, they too will be converted to the responsive, accessible theme as part of this project, and will also have various homepage layout options. The responsive theme resizes to the device in use, and will ensure that our pages are not downgraded in search results for being mobile-unfriendly.

    The prototype design work was developed by the Homepage/Responsive Theme Redesign Task Force of the Web Management Group; the latter has reviewed the Midwinter usability tests and provided feedback that was incorporated into this most recent version. The prototype was implemented by Sean Bires of ITTS using Axure, and was designed using the Google Material Design guidelines. The graphic details of the prototype are not necessarily the finals; nor are the menu item dropdowns complete. This is a testing formative prototype subject to change, not a final version. If you share the links to the prototype with others, please ensure that they are aware of these caveats.

    We intend to further test the most recent version of the prototype at Annual. Visit it on a desktop, laptop, or mobile device. It should resize to your device’s screen. You can also resize it to review the mobile look on your desktop by making your browser window narrow. Due to limitations of the prototyping software, the slide carousel does not respond to gestural swiping. Use the arrows, instead. Click (or tap) on menus and utility icons to see your options.

    The content pane options on the homepage are mostly intended to use feeds to update, although the I am ALA member success story feature may be manually updated.

    Here’s a page level mockup without working menus, as they are time consuming to create.

    One thing we’re looking at is the Masonry module, which would allow drag and drop options for site owners to use when positioning blocks and pods of content. At this time, we’re not sure yet how what’s in the “Featured Content” block will be decided. We’re also in the process of doing a website inventory to determine what will go in the “Related Sites” menu.

    Once the design is approved, we’ll issue an RFP to implement it. The target date for implementation is before the end of the current fiscal year (August 31st) with a rolling implementation down to division and microsites.

    Please review and share any questions or concerns with me directly (lgruenberg@ala.org) by the end of next week and copy the web-management-group@lists.ala.org.

    Homepage/Responsive Redesign Task Force: Jan Carmichael, Rebecca Gerber, Louise Gruenberg, Jen Habley, Dan Kaplan

    Web Management Group: Adam Eisgrau, Louise Gruenberg, Steven Hofmann, Ron Jankowski, Mary Mackay, Mari Merola, Sherri Vanyek

    Question: Will the search engine remain the same?
    Louise: Yes, we’ll still use Solr for search, but we’re going to work with a consultant to improve how it retrieves results.

  2. Ecommerce Update (Sherri)

    We signed a contract with a Drupal Commerce vendor in March, and now we’re currently in the discovery phase with our vendor and internal stakeholders. Work is currently being done on wireframes and then we’ll move to the design, with implementation beginning on June 5th. We hope to launch the new system for membership dues and donations the week of November 6th. Mary Ghikas is taking point on some of the discussions and is putting together a small group to work on the bigger decisions.

  3. ALA Connect RFP (Jenny)

    Working with a group of staff and members from the Website Advisory Committee, the RFP for a new Connect platform was issued on May 4th with responses due by May 26th. This group will read through the responses to select vendors to do a demo. We hope to select a new platform by the end of June so that we can start work in mid-July. We have an ambitious target date to go live in September, but that’s dependent in part on units providing the information we need to move forward. For example, we’ll be asking each unit to decide which of its groups and how much of their content should be migrated into the new system.

    Question: Will the conference scheduler be going away?
    Jenny: Yes, starting with Midwinter 2016, Conference Services will take over the conference website, scheduling tool, and mobile apps using a different platform. These services are currently hosted in Connect’s Drupal installation, which will be going away before Midwinter, so they have to be migrated to other services.

  4. Training (Sherri)

    Informz How To
    The first Informz remote classes were held this month, and will be offered monthly so remote offices as well as local staff who want refreshers can get in on the sessions via Adobe Connect.We are also working with Dan Kaplan and Mary Mackay to create Informz training videos for on-demand staff access on topics such as the Basics, Opt-out forms and links, and more.  The plan includes working with groups to help update Opt-out options on template footers as needed. Details on these and other upcoming classes are on the support site.

    Digital Library Help
    There is also a new Digital Library section on Support.  Clicking on the link reveals submenu items for tips on how to Search and/or request and item from the Library, using our new WorldCat.

    Where is the KM?
    Just a friendly reminder that we no longer have the KMS and most things can be found at ala.org/support under Staff Resources.  Your staff login will be required to see Conference Registration stats, HR Policies, and more.

    New iMIS Videos
    There is  a new iMIS page on support with over 20 TASK BASED videos, most of which are under a minute.  You can learn where to find data on records in the History and Detail tabs as well as refresh on the several ways of Finding a record, including options for creating an Ad Hoc Search.

  5. General Q&A

    Question: Where we are with the new grant cube in the accounting system?
    Sherri: We met with grant managers, accounting, and consultants to come up with a specifications document. We signed a contract this week in the hope that life-to-date grant reporting will be available in early June.

06 Mar 13 ITTS News Meeting – February 19, 2013

1. Drupal Modules (Rob)

Rob explained how decisions are made about which Drupal modules we can add to the ala.org installation and why

ITTS evaluates each module request, with the first criterion being its development status;
“alpha” modules are never installed because they’re too unstable and there’s no guarantee the developer will fix any problems
modules in “beta” testing are considered, but we’ll still take into consideration other factors, such as whether the developer is actively working on the module, if it’s dependent on other modules being installed first, etc.
“release candidate” status on a module still equals “beta”
even when accepted for testing, modules can still fail when implemented on the development site because the module just doesn’t work properly in our environment or with other installed modules

a list of existing modules in the ala.org installation is available at http://www.ala.org/support/res/modules
we’ll also add a list of rejected modules to the Support site

2. Connect Migration to Drupal 7 (Jenny)

the upgrade is scheduled to begin at 6:00 pm CST on Wednesday, March 6th
Connect will be offline for approximately an hour if all goes well
watch the Connect Twitter account for updates – http://twitter.com/alaconnect

users shouldn’t notice any major changes when the new version is up – the interface will be the same, with only minor changes made to chats (see January 2013 meeting notes)

once we’re in Drupal 7 and the dust has settled, we’ll begin working on better email notifications
watch for an online poll to provide feedback about how you think the notifications should look and what should be in them and where

we’re also planning a larger survey about Connect later this year to get broader feedback about how to improve the site

3. Merging Connect and ala.org Profiles (Jenny)

ITTS continues to work on the plan to merge Connect and ala.org profiles into a single profile that will result in a new, standalone membership directory; all of the data will be unified and will live in iMIS as our central source
we’ll be implementing Apache Solr as the search engine for profiles (members, non-members, and staff), which will allow us to offer faceted searching
this also means that Connect profile interests will be available to units via iMIS for use with Informz

4. Status of the New Hire Form (Louise)

the form is not yet ready but is getting closer to going live
Louise discussed various features and showed the “Changes and Departures” side of the form (building on what was shown at the January 2013 ITTS Update meeting)
when live, the form will be behind a staff login on the Support site
ITTS will seek feedback from Unit Managers before the form goes live
all other related, existing forms will be deactivated when this new one goes live

5. New Event Management System (Sherri)

the group working on selecting a new system has narrowed the choices to two vendors
we hope to sign a contract in March and begin work as soon as possible since the new service has to be ready for testing in August

 

24 Jan 12 Drupal 7 Training for ALA Member-Volunteers

Drupal 7 training for ALA member-volunteers is posted in the public sessions listing at the ALA iLinc site, which is where attendees should register. Current offerings are:

Drupal Training for Member-Volunteer Content Editors————————-01/27/2012 01:30 PM CST
Drupal Training for Member-Volunteer Content Editors ————————02/03/2012 10:00 AM CST

The sessions are free, but enrollment is restricted to members who will be maintaining any portion of ala.org or  staff at locations other than Chicago. We will verify that your division or round table approves your access to training and the subsequent setting of your site login to provide content manager permissions.

Note that times listed are for the central standard time zone;  adjust for your location.

More training sessions and asynchronous training will be available in  March.

Louise Gruenberg | ALA Sr. Usability Officer

Tags:

24 Jun 08 Last Call for Collage Classes at Annual

I’m going to take the registration form down tomorrow, so this is your last chance to register yourself for a Collage class at Annual, or alert other members to the opportunity.

There are three Collage classes available during annual conference. Because these sessions are only for member-volunteers, they are not listed in the event catalog. You can see the class descriptions, times & locations here: http://wikis.ala.org/learningcollage/index.php/Current_events ; it is possible to register for a class and/or a help session here: http://alatechtraining.wufoo.com/forms/tech-classes-help-session.

Come to class and get a sneak peek at how the website is going to change based on the new IA & the new design.

15 May 08 Training at Annual Conference 2008

There are Collage classes, a wiki class, and lots of one-on-one tech tutorial sessions available during annual conference. Because these sessions are only for member-volunteers, they are not listed in the event catalog. You can see the class descriptions, times & locations here: http://wikis.ala.org/learningcollage/index.php/Current_events ; it is possible to register for a class and/or a help session here: http://alatechtraining.wufoo.com/forms/tech-classes-help-sessions/.

The sessions at mid-winter were very popular and members were enthusiastic about them. We hope that those who update the website or who plan to administer a wiki will take advantage of this opportunity to attend an in-person session.

Please let us know if you think we should continue offering such sessions at conference.

03 Jan 08 New Training Sessions at Midwinter

For the first time and at member request, ITTS will be holding training sessions at the 2008 Midwinter Meeting. The sessions will be taught by Louise Gruenberg, ALA’s trainer, over a period of several days in order to provide as many options as possible. From Louise:

“I will be at Midwinter teaching Collage classes and providing help sessions in Collage, MediaWiki and Online Communities from January 11 through the morning of January 16.

Interested member-volunteers can register using the link below, and should do so ASAP, as sessions will be filled on a first come, first served basis. Those whose registrations are accepted will receive confirmation emails from me.

Please note that members must bring their own wireless-ready notebook computers to class.

If you are an ALA staff liaison, please forward this email with the registration link below to members.

http://creator.zoho.com/itts/2008-midwinter-registration

Please note that we used Zoho Creator for the registration form because we needed something fast, so this part is a bit of an experiment. It’s not ideal, as we can’t make the form as usable as we’d like, but so far it seems to be working well. The biggest issue is that upon submission of your information, the “success” message flashes too quickly, so check your email for a confirmation before resubmitting your data. If you encounter any problems with the Zoho-based form, please let us know.

I can’t believe Midwinter is already here – see you soon.