10 March 2023
We recently started work on the library section of our website. Last year we migrated all our website content to a new site. We are now redesigning the content on the most used sections. We want to make sure plymouth.gov.uk is easy to navigate and accessible, and our information is clear and easy to understand.
An early part of our content redesign process is to carry out user research. We do this by talking to users, looking at analytics and data, through online studies and listening to frontline staff.
One thing we picked up early on in our library research was that people were getting confused by the My Account link in the top menu on all pages. This currently takes you to the Council's My Account login screen. This is where you can view and manage your Council Tax account or keep track of any requests you've raised with us. On the library pages the feedback we had was that people were expecting the My Account link to take them to the library account sign in page.
Navigation menus
We have already started some work on our main menus. Many of our digital services use different accounts and we have been prototyping some ideas that will help users access the right ones. We have more research and testing to do though before we make any changes.
Accessibility
We also had a problem with the existing banner on the library page which didn't meet accessibility requirements. Images should not contain text because they cannot be resized and will lose quality when magnified.
New banner
As a quick solution, we decided to replace the banner on the page with a new one that would link to the sign in page of the library online website. At the same time we would make sure that the new banner is accessible.
The new banner uses a combination of image and HTML text. Using HTML text is more flexible. It can be resized without losing quality, and background and text colours can be modified to suit the preferences of users.
We checked the background colours met accessible colour contrast requirements. We also made sure the banner stacked on mobile devices, as this is how most people access the pages. On a mobile device now, the first thing you see is the Library online sign in.
Has it helped?
Our assumption was that by adding a clear direct link to the library sign in page we would reduce the number of people selecting the My Account link.
To see if it's made a difference we can look at analytics data and see where people go next from the library landing page.
In the week before we made the change 95% of people selected the My account link. We compared this with data for the week after we made the change. The number of people selecting My account has dropped to 15% and the number of people going to the library sign in page is 78%.
It's early days, but so far the changes we made seem to have helped people get to the library sign in page. We are assuming that people are trying to get to the Library online website and not to My Account, but we haven't changed the My Account link, so it is still available for those who need it.
What's next?
We will continue to monitor analytics and any feedback we get, both from users and library staff. As we redesign the library pages we will keep in mind easy access to the Library online. We will also use what we have learnt on any redesign of the main menus.
It's only a small change, but by taking a user centered approach and acting on feedback, we were able to improve navigation and accessibility. The aim being to make it easier for library users to access their accounts.
We have a digital user panel if you would like to get involved and help us improve our website and online services.
Find out more and sign up to the digital user panel.