Title: ALTERNATIVE%20LIBRARY%20USER%20INTERFACE
1ALTERNATIVE LIBRARY USER INTERFACE
2THE EXISITING WEBSITE
3THE FUNCTIONS OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM
- The major functions of the current system
- are
- Searching for books
- Loaning books
- Requesting books
- Renewing books
4MY ALTERNATIVEA FOOTBALL METAPHOR
- In my opinion, using the metaphor of a football
based interface fits in perfectly with the
library theme. Below is a list of functions I
would wish the interface to accommodate and next
to them their respective alternatives in the
system - Search for books Player Search
- Loan books Loan a player
- Request books Transfer bid
- View popular books League tables
- Renew books Player contract negotiations
- Contact library Press conference
- View library info View trophy cabinet
- Virtual library tour Stadium tour
- Library news Back page newspaper
- Library Account Club account
5THE HOMEPAGE
6PREFERENCES PAGE
Once the user has entered the site, they will be
presented with the below page, which will ask
them if they want to select their favourite team,
which will automatically colour code the pages
according to the team. It also asks them to
select a font size and whether they want audio on
or off
MY CLUB Please select a club Prem Div1
Div2 Div3 National Please select a font size
8 12 16 18 20 Audio On Off CONTINUE
7THE BENCH
Once the user has set their preferences, they
will be taken to The Bench from where they can
perform any task they so wish. The main theory
behind this screen is that the user selects the
member of a coaching staff which in the metaphor
performs the task they want. They are aided by
the fact that when they highlight the person, an
explanation of their roles appears underneath
8THE MANAGER
- The manager screen performs arguably the most
important functions as you would expect with a
football club. From this screen the user can - Search for a book
- Loan a book
- Read a book review
- So, for example if a user wanted to find a book,
read a review of it and then loan it out, they
would do the following - Hit the Search for a book button
- Fill in the necessary search criteria
- Hit the Read reviews button
- Go back out of the screen
- Hit the Loan this book option
- Fill in correct details
9THE CHAIRMAN
- From the Chairman screen, a number of different
tasks can be carried out.These primarily include - Renewing books
- Checking your library account
- These tasks fit in with the idea of the chairman
looking after accounts and contracts. To renew a
book, the user would - Go to their library account
- View the books they have on loan
- Highlight the one they wish to renew
- Apply to renew it
10HEAD OF P.R
- In my football/library metaphor, the Head of P.R
screen performs the following functions - Allows the user to view general info about the
library - Shows the latest news
- Allows visits to publisher websites
- Gives a virtual tour of the library
11THE SECRETARY
- Within a football club, they will be an appointed
secretary, through which the club will receive
correspondence. Along these lines, from this
screen, the user can - Review a book
- Contact the library
12CLOSURE
In my opinion, one of the major flaws with the
current system is that there is little closure
in that you are rarely notified when you have
been successful in carrying out a task. In this
system, whilst a task is being executed by the
system, eg a search, a player will be positioning
a ball on a penalty spot whilst a goalkeeper
takes his stance. If the task is successful the
player will score the penalty, if not the keeper
will save it. This allows the user to know if
they have executed a task correctly and will give
them assurance they have done what they needed to
do.