The Theodore Roosevelt Center recently launched their completely redesigned website. Working with an outside web development company, the TRC increased their site’s functionality as well as visual appeal. Now, each part of the site is easily accessible, important information is highlighted on the homepage, and visitors can go directly to the digital library–one of the TR Center’s most valuable collections. The scrolling bar across the top calls attention to recently changed parts of the website and can be easily updated by staff members. Maybe it’s because I had to navigate their old site and know the incredible improvements they made, but the redesigned version is one of my favorite websites created for a historical institution.
A screen capture of the TR Center's homepage
Online archives and databases are, largely, ugly. It’s true. Anyone who has spent significant time searching through pages and pages of results knows this. One thing I truly appreciated in the website update was that the overall aesthetic of the homepage transferred to the Digital Library. Again, this part of the website is easily navigated and incredibly user friendly.
A screen shot of an item from the TRC's Digital Library
(Screen shots link back to their live website.)
Nice screenshots! This actually made me re-evaluate the Frick website’s aesthetic value. New benchmark- TR’s amazeballs website.
Thanks for the great shout-out Kelsey!