A New Start for lbl.gov: Answers to Questions On Berkeley Lab's New Homepage

Why can’t I find anything?

Look more closely and you will see that everything that used to be on the main page is still there, plus a lot more. The alphabetical index, for example, has been relocated to the banner at the top of the page under “A-Z index.” The primary navigation that used to be on the upper right-hand side has now been moved to the center of the page under one of our new features, the video glossary. The “For Staff and Guests” link, located directly under the banner, connects to a new page that consolidates information of particular interest to an internal audience. The Today at Berkeley Lab (TABL) link is now under News Center, as is the events calendar. Employment has been placed under the heading “Information About.” Energy research, which used to occupy the upper third of the main page, now appears under Scientific Programs, Secure and Sustainable Energy. Once you have spent a few minutes re-orienting yourself to the online landscape, enjoy the new features. More are on the way.

I liked the page the way it was. Why did you have to change it?

As we learn more about how readers use the web, we, as communicators, must respect emerging conventions. One such convention is the established bias of web users to look at the upper left hand side of the page first. The new lbl.gov has relocated its daily menu of stories to this hot-zone for obvious reasons. We have also created a “main story” image at the top of the page to help establish the visual hierarchy and capture reader interest. We expect to feature a variety of high-impact stories in this space. Typefaces and banners are different, too, as are the inclusion of social media share symbols at the bottom of the page. In short, our objective was to create a cleaner and more organized space that would allow us to both showcase Berkeley Lab and better serve our internal and external audiences.

But what about (fill in the blank)? Why can’t you do (fill in the blank)?

We understand that every reader gets protective about this feature or that. Some of you also can be very insistent that we add functionality of one kind or another. (What, no shortcuts list?) That’s why we encourage you to contact us at [email protected]

What do we know about the audience for lbl.gov?

Using various analytical tools, we know that relative to the general Internet population, 18 to 24 year olds are over-represented in our audience and 55 to 64 year olds under-represented. We are also over-represented on the male side, under-represented on the female side. We’d like to change that. On the other hand, our readers tend to have more college education, which serves us well. More than 11 percent of our audience is from India. Germany and the UK follow in third and fourth place. In all, lbl.gov readers are generally young, smart and global.