The DSpace 7 UI Outreach Group is collecting screen shot examples of inspirational UI design and functionality for the different pages of DSpace as a resource for development of the DSpace 7 UI. The overall goal is that DSpace 7 will represent "the best of both worlds" when it comes to unifying XMLUI and JSPUI.

But if BOTH JSPUI and XMLUI are lacking in important areas, we're also looking outwards to other systems to see how we can pick low hanging improvement fruit.

UI Aspects visible on EVERY PAGES

This includes headers, footers and navs (IF navs are present everywhere)

Essential features / Links to use cases

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Examples


Homepage

Essential features / Links to use cases

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Examples

Screen shot & Source URLIndividual observationsJoint community opinion

Bram Luyten (Atmire)

Main pane

  • News => KEEP
  • Communities => I personally think they shouldn't be on the homepage. Too cumbersome if list is long
  • Recently added

Right nav

  • Browse => IN DOUBT ... takes a lot of place, might be cleaner to hide this
  • options to login => IN DOUBT ... not sure if this should be BOTH in the header and in the nav
  • Discovery facets => IN DOUBT ... are they really useful on the homepage?
  • Stats => NOT PROMINENT ENOUGH
  • RSS

Bram Luyten (Atmire)

News => KEEP

Community listing + Discover facets next to eachothers

  • => I personally think community list shouldn't be on the homepage. Too cumbersome if list is long

DSpace-CRIS out-of-box and typical "customization"

https://dspace-cris.4science.it/ http://ktisis.cut.ac.cy/

Andrea Bollini (4Science)

  • Removed the top community list by default
  • More editable html section (head, side & footer)
  • central role of the search
  • Infographics about virtual aggregation of the repository content (in dspace-cris we have additional entities but it can be also a group by a custom solr query, dc.type, etc.)
  • More "list of content": recent submission and most viewed, downloaded
  • the navigation bar include links to virtual section of the repository

Typically insitutions use the html editable section to put

  • carousel of images / institutional news
  • link to other general services (footer)
  • often the central panel with the search box and infographics is enlarged to the full row and the additional side news section if used is put on a single middle row

Homepage with animated "carousel" / "discovery thingy"

https://opensource.google.com/projects/explore/featured

Bram Luyten (Atmire)

  1. Visually eye catching section that draws the user to recent/highlighted content
    1. In a DSpace context, this could be the thumbnails of recent items, or highlighted items/collections
       
  2. Search box that could also function to show the user the (top level) communities. The fact that the box does search "everywhere" by default, but allows you to drill down to a particular topic/community is very nice
     
  3. The SEARCH feature & listing of search results seems TOO LIGHT. Only sorting between relevance and name. No facets. I'm convinced we still need facets in DSpace search. Although there's something to say for simplicity as well.

2017 June 7

interesting but not enthusiastic about this viewer

Monika Mevenkamp

simple but powerful

works for all types of content and repos with mixed  content. Princeton has for example no pretty images, lots of journal articles, ETDs, some datasets, ...

low maintenance: no manual grooming of featured items - no worries that arithmetically chosen featured items step on anybodies feelings

this will live and die with the SEARCH and Filter capabilities on the search results page

  • SEARCH  could lead to a page that shows a list of results and offers categories to filter results;  categories should be configurable: eg
    • DataSet →  show only dc.type = DataSet matches
    • Department → show  local.custom.department facet to select one or more choices
    • in terms of filtering: draw inspiration from what Blacklight does - or look at WOS search page or ....
  • the grid up top could lead to a hamburger style menu - collections, submission instructions, news, statistics, ....
  • top right Login or User Logo

2017 June 7

would be a very good customizable option

Bram Luyten (Atmire)

  1. CONTENT FIRST
    1. Left panel: emphasis on recent/highlighted items.
    2. Right panel: collections/communities/subjects
    3. BELOW: explanation about the system/repository
    4. NO SIDEBAR/Clutter left or right
  2. Focus on social in the top level bar

2017 June 7

like how it highlights new items

like as an option, but not a default

would like it customizable


http://scholarsmine.mst.edu/

Digital Commons at Missouri University of Science and Technology

Felicity Dykas (Missouri)

Dynamic map; dots appear to show items being downloaded. Eye-catching. Shows users (and administrators) that this is a site that is being used.


"This map shows recent readership activitiy ..."

2017 June 7

homepage should be simple; useful to have option to add to selected pages; e.g., statistics view; make available for repository, community, collection, and items

nice, interactive feature

shows records being accessed

would be of interest to faculty


https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/umsl/

Islandora at University of Missouri–St. Louis

Felicity Dykas (Missouri)

Slide show - as an option feature.

Knowledge Bank at OSU has this feature: https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/






2017 June 6

Would like homepage design options that add appealing visuals

Jose Carvalho

Focus on institucional Repository context

Image highlight, general stats, last deposits, administrative information regarding the repository use


Jose Carvalho

Institutional repository with banner slideshow of the institution + action buttons to deposit, login,.. + information regarding policy, helpdesk...


Item Listing & Search Results Page

Is search results & item listing completely the same or should we have different designs?

In other words, are there different requirements for let's say, listing items in a "Recently Added" list or a "Browse By" list, compared to how they should be listed as search results?

Essential features / Links to use cases

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Examples

Screen shot and Source URLIndividual observationsJoint community opinion

Bram Luyten (Atmire)

  1. Great on mobile
  2. Title, citation, abstract and PDF icon
    1. Nothing screams "download me" more than a PDF icon

2017 June 7

would like display of the pdf as a customizable option for collections and search results

takes up a lot of the screen, reducing space for side bars

Bram Luyten (Atmire)

LIKE

  1. Each item in the list has an extensive listing, with room for an image/banner per paper.

DISLIKE

  1. If you need +10% of your vertical space to explain how the interface works, is it a good interface?
  2. Discovery aids are limited to a search box and a tag cloud

NOT SURE

  1. Titel, Author, Abstract, Date, Citation and view link to the publisher page are the key metadata being shown. 

2017 June 7

busy



Bram Luyten (Atmire)

  1. Facets fold in. Nice approach to ensure that the list of facets doesn't become too long
  2. Publication year slider with horizontal bar visualisation of how many results are available per year. 

Felicity Dykas (Missouri)

Different options for viewing search results:

  • List
  • Grid
  • Table

Users get to choose; plus manager can set default.

I like how the metadata is displayed in the List view. Clearly labeled and simple.

2017 June 6

Like ability to offer users different view options: condensed/expanded, and the options here

Not sure if users use such options


Jose Carvalho

Simple and clean with the possibility to refine search


https://www.rcaap.pt/ (search for "DSpace")

Jose Carvalho

List of items with preview of abstract, type of access, date... + possibility to filter results


Bram Luyten (Atmire)

LIKE

  • bibliography export option

DISLIKE

  • the UI design in general

Bram Luyten (Atmire)

LIKE

  • direct file downloads from search results
  • facet values limited to 5

DISLIKE

  • Not responsive
  • "Publication" field => not sure if the host publication is important enough to show it in the SERP
  • Authors are not clickable

NOT SURE

  • Saved searches. Requires creating an account. Why show the button if you need to be logged in to use it?



Bram Luyten (Atmire)

DISLIKE

  • Authors are hard to distinguish from titles
  • No direct file downloads
  • Too little information in SERP entries

Item page

Essential features / Links to use cases

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Examples

Screen Shot and source URLIndividual observationsJoint Community Opinion

Example of an "item page" in this system

https://opensource.google.com/projects/explore/featured

 Bram Luyten (Atmire)

  1. The item page equivalent seems a little "light". It's interesting that you lose all context of navigation, no breadcrumb etc. User is supposed to use the back button? It's very clean, but maybe too clean (e.g. sacrificing usability?)
    1. The fact that a single item can have its own header to make it more visual is really nice.

Bram Luyten (Atmire)

So much awesomeness don't know where to begin


http://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/jdr/

Digital Commons at University of Missouri Law School

Felicity Dykas (Missouri)

Like the drop down box from which users can choose an issue. Once an issue is chosen, the pdfs are organized under categories - which vary from issue to issue

Examples:

  • Front matter
  • Conferences
  • Notes

Figshare: Item page link

Bram Luyten (Atmire)

Figshare clearly takes the angle that the actual file/pdf is the most important thing the user wants. Above the fold, they only show the file (rendered), with an option to download below.

You have to scroll below the fold to get to the metadata.



Submission forms

Essential features / Links to use cases

Submitters should not lose information: explicit or implicit saving

Compatible with the current definition of input-forms.xml, meaning that:

Examples

Screen shot and source URLIndividual ObservationsJoint community opinion
Standard DSpace 6 XMLUI submission forms

Standard DSpace 6 JSPUI submission forms




Community page, Collection page, overview

Because a community in DSpace can have many subcommunities, every community can be a tree in itself.

So the challenge to represent ONE community (and its sub communities) is actually very similar to representing ALL top level communities.

Essential features / Links to use cases

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Examples

Screen shot & Source URLIndividual ObservationsJoint Community Opinion

http://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/jdr/

Digital Commons at University of Missouri Law School

Felicity Dykas (Missouri): Like the drop down box from which users can choose an issue. Once an issue is chosen, the pdfs are organized under categories - which vary from issue to issue

Examples:

  • Front matter
  • Conferences
  • Notes

Arthur Smith: Simple categories, visually easy to browse.


Author profile

Author profiles are NOT a default feature of DSpace 6 JSPUI or XMLUI. Maybe we should remove this section as a whole, if we're not adding author profiles in DSpace 7.

Essential features / Links to use cases

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Examples

Screen shot and source URLIndividual ObservationsJoint community opinion

Bram Luyten (Atmire): So much awesomeness don't know where to begin