Benefits of Using BNL Web Communication Standards
Modularization
 This template makes maximum re-use of common elements to reduce maintenance
overhead and increase uniformity between pages. “Include files” are used to
pull in common navigation menus and departmental graphics, including the
page banner, the global navigation bar, the search box and the style sheet.
A single change in any one of these files results in a global change across
the site. Dynamic information modules can be
plugged into standardized pages so that information shown on the page is
always current.
Consistent Look and Feel
While each department is unique in terms of the type of research that it
conducts, users from outside the Lab need to be presented with a consistent
interface that reinforces the idea that each department resides within the
same Lab.
Consistent Navigation
Within any web site at BNL, users should
always be presented with an interface that allows them to feel that they can
get back to where they started with a minimum of effort. Three elements on
the page achieve this: the BNL logo in the upper right-hand corner (which
links back to the home page), the global navigation bar below the top banner
and the local navigation list on the left-hand side.
Cross-Platform/Browser Compatibility
One aspect of a standards-compliant website is content which is separated
from styling rules such as font types and colors. Users who choose to
continue using older “legacy browsers” such as Netscape 4 will notice that
the content of the site continues to be visible and accessible, but without
any of the advanced visual styling that is available using a modern browser
such as Mozilla Firefox, Netscape 7, Opera 7, Internet Explorer 5/6, or
Apple’s Safari. Legacy browsers are largely incompatible with modern web
standards and this approach eliminates software conflicts which often lead
to unexpected display problems.
Search Function
Web usability studies show that a large percentage of users will bypass
navigation links and go straight for the search function to find what
they’re looking for. The Google-powered BNL search engine is accessible from
a consistently placed input box just below the page banner and global
navigation bar. Individual departments have the option to narrow the search
to within their department by selecting a radio button. Sites using the BNL
template are optimized for efficient ranking by search engines.
Maximizing Displayed Content
Web usability studies indicate that users do not like to scroll to see
content. Often, what they see on the initial page-load is all they will see
when deciding to read the page or move on. The Lab/Department banner has
been kept deliberately small in the vertical dimension to maximize the
amount of content that is displayed “above the fold”, i.e., what is seen
without scrolling.
Scalability/Accessibility
These are two elements which are frequently overlooked in “home-grown” web
sites. First, the revised template is “liquid” in that it will expand to
fill whatever size screen the user is reading it on. Also, the text elements
are scalable such that if a user on a high-resolution monitor sets their
browser to display text at 150%, the content and menu text will scale
accordingly. Second, the content within the template is accessible to any
internet-enabled device. That is, the content is largely separated from
presentation elements in such a way that even the oldest browsers or newest
wireless devices will be able to display the page contents, albeit in a less
visually attractive way.
Last Modified: April 6, 2009
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