Responsive Web Design for Libraries: A Lita Guide

by Matthew Reidsma

Overview

"Tablets, desktops, smartphones, laptops, minis: we live in a world of screens, all of different sizes. Library websites need to work on all of them, but maintaining separate sites or content management systems is resource intensive and still unlikely to address all the variations. Experienced responsive web developer Reidsma, named ""a web librarian to watch"" by ACRL's TechConnect blog, shares proven methods for delivering the same content to all users using HTML and CSS. His practical guidance will enable web developers to save valuable time and resources by working with a library's existing design to add responsive web design features. Firmly addressing the expectations of library website users, he shows how libraries can build one site for all devices--now and in the future--with just HTML and CSS.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781555709945
Publisher:	ALA Editions
Publication date:	03/01/2014
Pages:	154
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.33(d)

Editorial Reviews

Written by a web services librarian, this handbook comes with strong credentials backed by the Library and Information Technology Association. Reidsma works at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, and has experience with website design and user responsiveness on a global level. The text is intended to help librarians address the imploding world of electronic diversity in screen origins, from desktops to smartphones to minis. Using responsive web practices, the author shares his experience delivering the same content to all users no matter the venue for HTML and CSS. Following his suggestions, librarians should be able to use any existing design and augment its responsiveness to meet changing-use devices. Screen captures, associated code samples, and web links add to the practicality of his step-by-step plan to channel desktop CSS into breakpoints for site responsiveness. Other suggestions revolve around tips and techniques from developers and making use of vendor sites. Two librarians who previewed the text were impressed with the approaches suggested for accommodating a variety of screens but had reservations about the American Disabilities Act compliance in regard to responsiveness. All in all, Reidsma creates a basic manual that would be useful to any working librarian. Reviewer: Judith Hayn; Ages adult professional.

VOYA, October 2014 (Vol. 37, No. 4) - Judith Hayn