I get asked from time to time about the changes I’ve made to our OPAC, and I usually have to dig around to find the Worknotes I’ve written about them or the code that helps make the changes.
This week I collected all the entries and code snippets I could find for a colleague, and thought I’d post them here in case they are useful for others. If you use Sierra and the WebPAC Pro, check out these resources, since they might be useful for you.
- Creating a “placebo login” for requests from our ASRS: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/164
- Adding modal windows to help users understand journal and microfilm/fiche requesting: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/159
- Redesigning the login screen with two different logins: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/157
- Show and sort all available copies of an item on a single page, rather than the silly see more page: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/156
- Most recent redesign (includes holdings statement design): https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/151
- Redesigning the 856 field: [https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/142(https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/142)]
- Moving the MARC button and hiding call numbers on eBooks: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/141
- Improving failed renewal request messaging: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/135
- Creating searches that automatically add keywords for scope: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/118
- Switching buttons to sprites, CSS styles: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/94
- Improving infrastructure, performance updates: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/93
- Redesigning the My Account screen: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/85
- Redesigning the Advanced Search screen: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/83
- How not to push test code live: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/79
- Redesigning the no results non-keyword search screen: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/71 and https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/74
- Switching Nearby on Shelf from an image to a text link: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/73
- Fixing the 8 million font-size rules: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/68
- Labeling improvements based on usability tests: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/66
- Make sure users really want a requested journal: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/65
- Getting feedback on what to include in a catalog using a bookmarklet (aka Make Your Own Catalog Mockup): https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/54 and https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/55
- Simplifying the two request buttons when you have an ASRS: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/56
- Adding an alert based on holding information (eg ASRS is down): https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/53
- Redesigning the awful, awful error messages: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/48 and https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/51
- Comparing the OPAC to the Discovery layer: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/50
- Scraping records to get availability data: https://matthew.reidsrow.com/worknotes/40
Code Snippets:
- Reformatting the availability table in search results: https://gist.github.com/mreidsma/f6a70b55697639ba80bc
- Fixing unhelpful renewal messages in Sierra: https://gist.github.com/mreidsma/94e7e86a3b3d98fa8062
- Check a query for search term, if not there add it before submitting: https://gist.github.com/mreidsma/b7dbab00b5b3f6119a5c
- Clean up no results pages for non-keyword searches in Summon: https://gist.github.com/mreidsma/9258543
- Add modal window asking users if they want journal or article when they request a whole journal: https://gist.github.com/mreidsma/8849877 (superseded by live code)
- Add alert if an item is in the ASRS: https://gist.github.com/mreidsma/7198563
- Fix hard-coded error messages: https://gist.github.com/mreidsma/6872739
- Change placeholder text for author searches: https://mreidsma.github.io/2015-MLA-Tech-Trends/#/40
Live code for GVSU:
- https://github.com/gvsulib/opac/tree/debug (Yes, the debug branch is the live one. I need to merge that.)
If you have any questions about modifying WebPAC Pro, drop me a line. I also have a book coming out in May that walks you through creating JavaScript modifications for vendor tools, and I use the OPAC as an example quite often, walking through the changes and the code step by step.