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The ALA Website: An Analysis Finney
Megan Finney
5/10/07
INFO 622
Assignment 2: Critical Analysis and Recommendation
The American Library Association Website: An Analysis
It is the express concern of the American Library Association (ALA) to “promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information,” according to the association website.[1]This excerpt from the ALA Mission Statement may be further concentrated, for the purposes of this investigation, to the first and foremost of the mission priority areas: access to information. The ALA[2] proposes to utilize its resources (human and otherwise) to ensure that every individual who seeks information will be able to not only locate it, but access it; the reader is to understand that the organization will promote this access to the full extent and breadth of its power. What better example, then, of the association’s commitment to complete access than the ALA website?
The Association
The ALA website, according to the copyright statement, has been in existence for 10 years as of 2007. Much if not all of the core structure of the association has been reconstructed within the website. The association itself was founded in 1876 as a non-profit organization bound by the desire to provide leadership for library and information services, as well as promote learning and free access to information within the United States. The ALA is governed by an elected Council and Executive Board, which includes the ALA President and Treasurer. The association is divided into eleven specialized membership divisions, and further divided into Round Tables. Membership is granted to professional librarians, libraries and/or affiliated associations, and even corporate sponsors. The association holds two annual conferences, conveys many awards and scholarships, and remains a strong advocate for intellectual freedom and freedom of access. In addition, the ALA publishes its own journal and library-related materials.
The Website
As for the website, the intended audience is understood to fall into two general categories: 1) Members of the association (who many login and access information and/or materials limited to paying members), and 2) Non-members who may have interest in joining, supporting, or simply researching the ALA. The site content is divided among nine headings available on the main navigation bar: 1) “Libraries & You,” 2) “Education & Careers,” 3) “Awards & Scholarships,” 4) “Our Association,” 5) “Issues and Advocacy,” 6) “Professional Tools,” 7) “Events & Conferences,” 8) “Products & Publications,” and 9) “News.” These headings are meant to direct users to the information they seek and which the ALA has made available for public perusal on the World Wide Web.[3]
“Libraries & You” provides the most extensive amount of information for non-members of ALA: it introduces the user to advocacy issues, provides a FAQ section, includes information about library professions and events, and even allows the user to search for his or her nearest public library. “Education & Careers” further elaborates on education opportunities for aspiring librarians, and offers information to current professionals for personal career development. “Awards & Scholarships” details the ALA awards and scholarships available as well as past recipients. “Our Association” reiterates the aforementioned information about the association (government, publishing, member directory, handbook, etc.). The “Issues & Advocacy” is optionally titled (according to the page) the “AdvocacyResourceCenter” and provides all the appropriate resources for understanding and/or becoming involved in ALA issues of interest. “Professional Tools” may be most aptly suited to professional librarians. “Events & Conferences” includes details about ALA-sponsored conferences and other related events. “Products & Publications” directs the user to the ALA Online Store, publications, and promotional products. The “News” section is devoted to the latest ALA press releases, as well as provides press kits.
Analysis of Site Design
Analyzing the ALA website through the lens of the C.R.A.P. principles (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity), one discovers areas of strength and weakness alike. As far as contrast is concerned, the site design employs three colors to differentiate the main header (red), navigation bar (light blue), and page content, which changes as the user navigates (white background). Horizontal rules are also light blue and clearly mark divisions between unrelated content; the one vertical rule employed resembles a perforated line. Slight alterations in the typeface also denote different sections, but the most noticeable accent lies on the hyperlinks embedded in the text, which are bolded and underlined in either traditional blue or black. Two sets of buttons exist: one set comprises the navigation bar, another set runs down the right side of the page in a much more elaborate design (Fig. 1).
Two problems become immediately apparent on the home page: no focal point is, at least to this user, actually discernable among all the various elements, and too much of the contrast relies upon the color scheme as opposed to shape or typeface. The World Wide Web Consortiummay not approve of the light blue navigation bar set against a white body, when it comes to users with limited or complete lack of color recognition.[4] Also, a more important point pertains to the buttons of the navigation panel: they are designed awkwardly, almost unprofessionally, and not clearly accentuated.
Repetition, however, is usefully manipulated by the ALA site design. The page does rely upon Javascript language to consistently represent the main header (red) and navigation bar (light blue) on all pages within the ALA site—such a practice is discouraged by the W3C in the Mobile Web Best Practices.[5]Regardless, the consistent presence of the header and simplistic navigation bar do meet W3C standards; only the main body alters with every page change. The search option is also a consistent entity. Also, with the exception of the home page, the majority of the ALA pages follow a standard text-heavy scheme: within each page, a trail tracks the user’s progress as he or she moves further along a chain of pages, care of the secondary navigation links that appear on the left side of the page. This “breadcrumb trail” allows users to see “where they are” and “how they got there,” for the most part (Fig. 2).
The alignment of the ALA pages is strictly maintained and stylistically arranged on the left side, with a vertical line separating the secondary navigation bar and the main body. This use of a “hard vertical edge” makes for a structured, understandable arrangement of elements without creating confusion—or worse, boredom.[6] The only detraction from this scheme is the sometimes overwhelming presence of hyperlinks, whether relative or leading to an outside source. Perhaps on a mobile device or for those with accessibility issues, it may become difficult to discern where one collection of links ends and the other begins. Also, W3C warns that site design must not “overload” pages with too many links; the user ought only to be given the information desired, and not an excess of unwanted options.
The ALA site also maintains proximity efficiently. The pages are mostly table-based within the HTML coding, so all related elements are accurately grouped in understandable formats. Most pages follow quite a strict hierarchical standard of arrangement, which not only applies (stereotypically) to librarians but to any person who appreciates order and ease of navigation. However, the tables prove both a blessing and a burden: following a tabular structure does not translate well to mobile devices with limited screen space.
As a conclusion to this brief discussion of site design, the researcher places one final challenge in front of the ALA website: the W3C Validation tools. The ALA website was run through the “MarkUp Validator,” “Link Checker,” and “CSS Validator” provided by the W3C.[7] The site failed markup validation with 86 errors; it passed link validation with 4 valid anchors, but a problematic number of server side errors; CSS validation reported 14 errors and a staggering 539 warnings. One is left to wonder if the ALAsite designers are utilizing or even aware of all the W3C resources available, such as these important (and simple to use) tools.
Accessibility and Usability
As a—if not the—main concern of the ALA, accessibility must logically also stand as a prominent concern of the ALA website design. In order to test this theory, the site was studied against the work of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the W3C.[8]The WAI has released the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines[9]which, when used in conjunction with the ADAAccessibility of…Websites to People with Disabilities, permits a comprehensive reference with which to judge the compliance of the ALA website.[10] Accessibility in the context of the ADA applies exclusively to individuals with physical disabilities, including those with hearing, vision, or movement impairments. However, as the WAI explains it, web accessibility “also benefits people without disabilities in certain situations, such as people using a slow Internet connection, people with ‘temporary disabilities’ such as a broken arm, and people with changing abilities due to aging.”[11]
Accessibility is not to be confused with usability. Usability is more accurately applied to the intended general audience of the website. In the case of the ALA, the intended audience was identified as either “members” or “non-members” earlier in the analysis of the site content, and the related issues of access were more or less covered in the same section. Navigational tools are a strong element of the ALA website, and they contribute to a respectable level of usability for the average individual. The complexities of the association make for a densely packed website, but the nature of the association allows for a high level of organization. The home page remains the weakest element of the site: it is cluttered and unnecessarily dressed up.
Accessibility, on the other hand, relies upon the strict regulations set down by the WAI. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) number fourteen in all. Guideline 1 is concerned with providing textual equivalents for visual and auditory content, such as images and sound clips. The ALA site does not include any sound that this researcher was able to locate, but as for images, the site has very few posted (another recommendation of the WAI) and does provide alternate textual tags for the content; alternate tags are also implemented for all textual and image links.[12]These tags ensure that individuals with vision disabilities, such as blindness, may be able to audibly discern what the image represents or leads to.
Guideline 2 warns against relying on color—this has been previously discussed—and Guideline 3 covers the appropriate use of markup language and style sheets; earlier, the ALA homepage failed the validation test. The site design does successfully employ a safer, external CSS file that covers all associated pages and will not interfere with “personal” style sheets users with disabilities may employ. Guideline 4 discusses proper tabular formation on the web site. The ALA website does not sufficiently meet the standards of heading and summarizing tables for the benefit of the visually impaired, who must rely upon screen reading tools to understand the layout of the information.
The ALA site does not appear to provide the “alternative pages” suggested by two guidelines (6 and 11), should users lack the devices to access the original content. This may be because of the emphasis on text as opposed to complicated technologies, such as images, video, and sound features. The site does not comply with Guideline 12, which calls for the title tag (<TITLE>) in the header section of the code to identify each individual page. The title tag is only used for the home page (and it is the only meta-tag present), while no descriptive metadata tags are present at all on the other pages.
Guideline 13 is met with four identifiable navigation mechanisms: 1) the main navigation panel, 2) the secondary navigation panel, 3) the “trail” to locate the current page, and 4) the “Search” option powered by Google. Guideline 14 remains a question of the clarity of the content of the site: it is fairly straightforward, but there is so much content as to create an overall message that is far too complex for users with disabilities to digest.[13]
In sum, the ALA website may meet the minimum requirements for Web Accessibility, but the above analysis has determined large gaps in the format of the site, including a lack of alternatives available to disabled users and a host of coding violations that may prevent those users from accessing the site to begin with. Perhaps the designers were more concerned with usability as opposed to accessibility.
Recommendations
In light of the basic design and several—but crucial—accessibility failings, it is the recommendation of this researcher that the site designers first and foremost access the World Wide Web Consortium and make use of the materials provided there. It is surprising and disappointing that an association so dedicated as the American Library Association is to free and full access should fall behind on providing free and full access to users of its own website, especially because information on accessibility and ADA compliance is so readily available on the Web.
This report has shown that there is ample room for improvement, beginning with basic design elements: redesign the homepage by removing excess links, differentiate between the typefaces of unrelated content, repair the awkward navigation panel by accentuating the buttons, retain the alignment of the secondary navigation panel and the main content but create more visual differences between them to cue the separation, and don’t “overeducate” the user.
When it comes to the issue of accessibility, major changes must be made to the HTML markup of the ALA website: include more metadata, further describe the tables that essentially format every page, recognize the necessity for alternative pages, and remedy the too-narrow margin between the light blue navigation panel and the white body. The simple change to a darker shade of blue or a stronger partition between the two sections would easily resolve this problem. The researcher also suggests that the site designers utilize the validation tools and study the output, and test the page against the Bobby Online Free Portal.[14] It is a simple and effective way to identify specific instances of ADA compliance violations. If an outside observer such as this researcher is able to readily ascertain the accessibility of the ALA website, the team who designed it has no excuse not to access these resources. They will be provided free of charge at the following URL:
Figure 1: The ALA home page
Figure 2: The “Breadcrumb trail” navigation tool
References
The American Library Association. (2007). The Voice of America’s Libraries. ALA:
Home. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from:
Lewis, Chris H. (2006). Summarizing the C.R.A.P. Principles. Using Graphic Design
Principles in Web Design. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from:
Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group. (2006). Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0
World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from:
Rundle, Mike. (2006). How C.R.A.P. Is Your Site Design? Vitamin: Nourishment to Help
the Web Grow. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from:
U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section. (2003).
Accessibility of State and Local Government Websites to People with Disabilities.
Americans with Disabilities Act. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from:
Waddell, Cynthia D., and Thomason, Kevin L. (1998). Is Your Site ADA-Compliant…or
a Lawsuit-in-Waiting? The InternationalCenter for Disability Resources on the
Internet. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from:
Web Accessibility Initiative. (2005). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. World
Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from:
Web Accessibility Initiative. (2006). What Is Web Accessibility. Introduction to Web
Accessibility. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from:
[1]The American Library Association. (2007). The Voice of America’s Libraries. ALA: Home. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from: All successive information included in this analysis will be derived from the ALA website; it would be superfluous to cite every individual reference, unless absolutely necessary.
[2] Henceforth the American Library Association will be referred to by the acronym, ALA.
[3] It is beyond the bounds of this assignment to analyze the information and/or materials strictly limited to ALA members: access to these resources is not available.
[4] Henceforth the World Wide Web Consortium will be referred to by the acronym, W3C.
[5]Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group. (2006). Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from:
[6] Lewis, Chris H. (2006). Summarizing the C.R.A.P. Principles. Using Graphic Design Principles in Web Design. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from:
[7] These tools are available at the following URL:
[8] A very thorough explanation of Web Accessibility is available on the main page of the WAI, located at the following URL:
Henceforth the Web Accessibility Initiative will be referred to by the acronym, WAI.
[9]Web Accessibility Initiative. (2005). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from:
[10]U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section. (2003). Accessibility of State and Local Government Websites to People with Disabilities. Americans with Disabilities Act. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from: