It’s Spring. Time to Refresh Your Web Site.

I was looking at some library Web sites recently when I spied one with a badge stating that the page was created for viewing in Netscape. Once a geeky emblem of honor, the badge today is simply a relic of days gone by.

Ten years ago, Netscape was a small upstart company vying for control of the browser market. In February 1998, Netscape took a risky step forward and released the source code (the back-end programming of applications) for its next Internet product suite, Communicator. That spawned Mozilla, a team dedicated to developing the newly released source code. A decade later, AOL has closed the doors on Netscape Navigator. Meanwhile Mozilla is going strong, celebrating its 10th anniversary and preparing to release version 3 of its popular Firefox browser.

What can we learn from this bit of Web history? The digital world sure moves fast, for one. The volatility of Internet companies is also reflected within the highly dynamic nature of Web content and therein lies the challenge. Web sites, like curriculum documents, are never done. This is why noting that a Web page is “under construction” is an unnecessary redundancy. Keeping your site fresh is an endless and often thankless task. But today, a cleanly designed site offering current, accurate, and relevant information is a basic expectation; anything less will likely draw comments from dissatisfied visitors. So here are some tips for reviewing your library’s Web presence.

Click here for success. Content management systems allow you to manage your site more directly by providing an application that takes care of the back end. Many schools are turning to educational Web systems focused on providing teacher tools for creating Web sites. While this is great for encouraging teachers to maintain learning spaces online, librarians might find the classroom-themed systems, which feature homework sections and the like, too limiting. Instead, librarians need to highlight books and resources. Still, content management systems offer other benefits, including professionally developed themes, which look nice and enhance usability. I, myself, always start with a nice template. This works best when you can tweak it, but unless you are versed in Web design, this is something best left to the experts.

Old news? Even with a content management system and a slick template, there are still many ways for a site to go wrong. One is to have a “Latest News” section highlighting year-old articles. Similarly, if you promise to showcase new books, upcoming events, or seasonal favorites, then you must deliver. Don’t have time to post regular—as in weekly—updates? Then consider more vague headings like “Books I Love” or “Great Reads.”

Look here! No, here! While flashing text, scrolling banners, or animated graphics might seem to be good attention-getters, these elements actually tend to distract readers from your message. Having fallen from fashion years ago, <blink> and <marquee> tags will make your online presence seem dated. These tags are so reviled by coders that some browsers no longer display blinking text. Highlighting information on a Web page is one of those times when less is more. Try using white space to distinguish critical information, in conjunction with a slightly larger font size and boldface.

So as we pause to remember Netscape—and here let me date myself by saying that I began teaching in 1998 and used Netscape Composer to create Web pages with my third-grade class—let us also look to the future. Is your library’s site ready? Are you meeting students on their digital turf, providing fresh, updated content and opportunities for interaction? If anything, I would consider it a huge personal favor if there was no blinking text.