design | The National Archives blog

Posts tagged 'design'

Tue Feb

2013

New blog layout

Posted by Ruth Ford (admin) in Behind the scenes

Lloyd's Weekly News composing room, Fleet Street, London, 1911 (ref COPY 1/555 )

We’ve introduced a new front page for the blog, showing a lot more of our recent posts at first glance and hopefully making it easier to browse through categories. However, if you prefer, you can easily switch back to the old view by clicking on ‘List view’ at the top of the page.

We’ve simplified categories – and you can still find and bookmark particular subjects using tags, for example archives sector, digital preservation or genealogy, or through the search function.

We are always looking for ways to improve your use and enjoyment of the blog – we will continue to act on your feedback and hope you keep telling us what you think.

Look out tomorrow for a special post from our first blogger – Chief Executive and Keeper, Oliver Morley – marking one whole year of The National Archives’ blog.

Fri Dec

2012

Blog improvements – what do you think?

Posted by Ruth Ford (admin) in Behind the scenes

It’s been a very exciting 2012 for The National Archives’ blog. Since our very first post, back in February, we’ve endeavoured to involve you in the extraordinary range of work we do here, and share the passion and enthusiasm our bloggers have for their work. Through comments, tweets and emails, we’ve had brilliant feedback from you, our readers, and hope to build on this success into 2013.

We’re currently posting about four blog posts a week (sometimes more, rarely less), and try to make sure that these cover a variety of subjects. The classic blog ‘list view’ (showing in date order) does mean, however, that posts are quickly pushed quite far down the ‘front page’ of the blog.

Blog front page 2013

So, in time for our first birthday in February 2013, we want to launch a new front page for the blog, one that lets us keep a lot more posts visible on your screen, without you having to work to get to them. You will still be able to switch to the current list style by clicking on ‘List view’ at the top of the page (click on the image on the right to enlarge it).

Thu Aug

2012

Designs on The Record

Posted by Steve Mannion in Behind the scenes, Technology and innovation

Many of you reading will have seen our Olympic Record, previously blogged by Melinda and Sarah. I’m one of the in-house Web designers who helped to develop this resource and since its launch we’ve all been delighted by its popularity, including recent coverage on BBC’s Click (the slanted camera angles and zooms really amplified the site’s dynamic transitions and effects, bringing it to life).

How did we get here? A look at the design process behind The Olympic Record

To assist in the process of helping people get quicker, closer access to the records here has been very satisfying and I’ve wanted to shed some light on the design and development process behind The Olympic Record since its unveiling.

Around a year ago the Web team began discussing the project with the Collections Knowledge team, led by Cathy Williams and Fleur Soper. Together we recognised the potential for a new online resource to provide access to documents within the Archives concerning people, places and incidents that could be connected to any of the 30 previous modern Games. It would provide a historical resource, whilst engaging creators of new records and archivists – to actively collect 2012 records for the future. Continue reading »