by Ari Gross
As you may have noticed, the website of the University of Toronto Scientific Instrument Collection has recently gone a major change After years of using our old website, we decided to embrace a new interface, providing users with a fresh look and a significant increase in functionality.
Here are some features about our website.
1) Our dynamic homepage
The first thing visitors will notice when they come to our homepage is that there are three large buttons in the centre of the page. These buttons can link to specific instruments, blog posts, exhibitions, and so on. They will be updated from time to time and will highlight our latest findings, exhibitions, and thoughts. Check back regularly to see what’s new.
2) Two ways to browse our collection
Our instruments, organized into collections, can now be viewed two ways: as rows of instruments or as a grid. These can be toggled by clicking the “row” or “grid” icons in the upper-right side of the page, just above the instruments. This button appears when you click on the “collections” tab or any of the collections or sub-collections from the drop-down menu.
3) Searching our collection
To search for instruments, first click on the “collections” tab (or any of the drop-down links). A search box will appear on the left side of the page. You can either search within the entire collection or within a particular collection, such as “Physics”.
4) Online exhibits
One of the most exciting aspects of our new website is our ability to host virtual exhibits, like our Taking Toronto’s Healthcare History exhibit. The corresponding physical exhibit to this virtual one was put together for a two-day conference, but our virtual exhibit can remain accessible to the world in perpetuity.
5) Blog posts
Our new website also consolidates all of our posts in one places, which can be accessed through the banner. While our latest post may be featured on the homepage, older posts will be easily accessible through the “blog posts” tab.
6) UTSIC documents
Our website also has a place for our documents, such as our collections policy. Any relevant documents that may be of interest to the public will be placed here.
We hope that these changes will make our collection even more accessible to the world. As always, please feel free to contact us by email at utsic [at] utoronto [dot] ca.