PRIVATE: Alma's New User Interface
Alma's new UI includes many major improvements to Alma's look and feel, with a better color palette, new iconography and fonts, simpler menu systems, smoother flow, and other look-and-feel improvements. In addition, the new UI includes several new features.
All screenshots are for illustration purposes only. The actual look and feel of the new UI may change before it is released.
Look and Feel Improvements
The Persistent Menu

Alma Home Page
- Home page institution icon - Click to return to the Alma home page.
- Quick Links Menu - See Quick Links Menu.
- Main Menu Navigation Bar - The Alma Main Menu was split into major sub-menus, and is now called the Main Menu Navigation Bar.
- Persistent Search Box - Now appears below the top menu. Simple search includes both the entity to search (All Titles, Electronic Portfolios, Vendors, and so forth) and the main search criteria (Keywords, ISBN, and so forth). The search criteria vary depending on the selected search entity. The advanced search now appears by expanding the simple persistent search box when you click the Advanced link to the right of the Persistent Search Box. For additional new features, see Simple and Advanced Search Enhancements.
- Main menu icons - Icons include (from left to right):
Icon Description Library/desk selector (not shown)
Institution selector (only appears when enabled and for a user who has credentials in multiple member institutions implementing the same Network Zone) (not shown)
RFID connection icon (only appears when an RFID integration profile is defined) User menu Tasks list Configuration page link Help link.
Action Buttons
Action buttons on various pages were moved to more prominent locations on the page. In particular, the Save and Cancel buttons that appear on many pages now appear at the top of the page in the sticky persistent menu. See Sticky Persistent and Facets Menu.
If you resize the window, any action buttons in this menu combine into (or separate from) an Actions menu that appears in the menu, in order to account for the available space.
Page Tabs
Tabs with active contents now show a blue triangle (instead of the previous blue box).

Tabs with Contents
Repository Lists Look and Feel Improvements
The list of repository items that appears on many pages (search results, PO lines in review, lending requests, and so forth) was reorganized.

Repository Search Results
The row actions list appears when you click the ... icon or when you right-click the item in the repository list. Two of the actions appear as buttons and do not appear in the row actions list when you click the ... icon. You can configure the fields and actions on this page; see Configuring Repository Lists.
- Important, but secondary information appears at the bottom of each item in tabs. The tabs depend on the page:
- Search results:
- Physical, Electronic, Digital holdings information, as well as item, portfolio, or representation information
- Other details - More information
- Lending requests:
- Alerts
- Availability - Holdings information
- Other details - More information
- Borrowing requests:
- Other details - More information
- Search results:
- The two most commonly selected actions appear as buttons on the top right of the item. All other actions are available in the ... dropdown list.
In May, the organization of the fields appearing for each item, as well as the actions appearing as buttons, will be customizable by the user.
Other Table and List Improvements
- The Tools menu is now called Export.
- The Find/in filter was replaced with a Search link. Click Search to expand the search field and dropdown menu. Note that the persistent search box continues to appear at the top of the page; this search is a secondary search for searching the list/table. Collapsed Secondary SearchExpanded Secondary Search
- Multiple filters appear in a single Filters dropdown box. Reading List Tasks List Page
- The Quick Add area was moved to an Add Row dropdown pane above the table. Quick Add Dropdown PaneAreas within pages in which you can add multiple lines (such as locations for ordered items) also use the Add <X> dropdown (instead of a quick pick list).
- The Actions menu at the end of each table row is now a drop-down list with a down arrow, and is also available by right-clicking anywhere in the row. An additional action, Copy cell value, appears at the bottom of the list. Reading List Tasks List Page
Other Pages
Many pages were significantly reorganized. For example, the Receive New Material page ...

Receive New Material Page
.. and the "rules" configuration pages, such as the Purchasing Review Rules page.

Purchasing Review Rules Page
New UI Features
Quick Links Menu
The Quick Links Menu appears in the persistent menu. You can add any options from any menus in the Main Menu Navigation Bar to this menu. This provides you with a quick means of accessing options that you frequently use.
An option that is a quick link is marked with a blue star in the Main Menu Navigation Bar. The star appears when you hover your mouse to the left of any other option. Select the star to mark the item as a quick link. Select the star again to remove it from the quick links menu.

Main Menu Navigation Bar
Click the Quick Links Menu icon
to view the list of options that you have marked as quick links. Click the Main Menu Navigation Bar icon
to redisplay the complete main menu. If you have selected several options for the Quick Links Menu, select the three dots (...) to view the rest of your quick links.



Quick Links Menu Extended
Show/Hide Current Location
The current location is hidden by default in the new UI. Most users work at a single location and do not need to see this. However, you may want the location to appear in the persistent menu, like it did in the old UI. To display the current location in the persistent menu, select Always show current location in the library/desk selector menu.

Library/Desk Selector Menu

Current Location in Persistent Menu
New Reports in Analytics
New reports in the Analytics menu are marked as new.

New Report in Analytics
Sticky Persistent and Facets Menus
When you scroll down on any page, the persistent menu remains at the top of the page (the persistent search menu becomes hidden) and the left facets menu (if there is one) remains stationary. Click the up arrow at the bottom right to quickly return to the top of the page.
Note that you can hide or redisplay facets using the down or right arrows to the right of the facet name.

Repository Search Page
Configuring Repository Lists
In addition to the changes in the look and feel (see Repository Lists Look and Feel Improvements), you can configure the fields and actions that appear on repository lists, such as search results, lending requests, and PO lines in review. Click the configuration icon above the list to open a configuration pane.

Repository List
The pane may not appear fully expanded. Click Show all to expand the pane.

Repository Search - Configuration Pane Contracted

Repository Search - Configuration Pane Expanded
You can configure the fields that appear for each item in the repository list. Click a column layout to change the number of columns. Drag and drop fields between columns. Hide a field by unselecting the field's checkbox.
You can drag and drop actions to configure which ones appear as the two action buttons. You can also unselect an action so that it does not appear when you right click the repository item (note that the action continues to appear when you select the ... icon).
Dropdown List Enhancements
In the various dropdown lists, you can enter part of the field name and then select it from the list of matching terms that appears.

Terms Matching Entered Text
For some dropdown lists, terms are grouped into expandable/collapsible sub-menus.

Terms in Multi-Level Dropdown List
Recent terms that you selected appear at the top of the list.

Recently Selected Terms at the Top of the List
Quick Pick List Enhancements
Quick pick lists were improved to provide less interruption to the workflow. A quick pick list can be identified by the icon in the field.

When selecting an item from a quick pick list (vendors, funds, users, and so forth), the list appears in a dialog box, rather than on a new page.

Funds and Ledgers Selection List
You select an item by clicking the item's row (instead of having to select a radio button and then click Select).
If you have previously selected items of this type, click the recent icon
in the selection field to select any recently selected item.


Simple and Advanced Search Enhancements
As noted above, simple search includes both the entity to search (All Titles, Electronic Portfolios, Vendors, and so forth) and the main search criteria (Keywords, ISBN, and so forth). The search criteria vary depending on the selected search entity. The advanced search now appears by expanding the simple persistent search box when you click the Advanced link to the right of the persistent search box.
The simple search was enhanced with the following features:
- In the persistent search box, the entity and criteria are pre-selected according to your last search. Click in the search box to view/select any of your most recent searches. Saved Searches
- Click forward slash / on any page to have your cursor jump to the main search box on the page: the secondary search box for the page (if one exists; see above) or the persistent search box.
The advanced search was enhanced/changed as follows:

- Select the item type to search in the dropdown list at the top left.
- Select the repository to search: local (Institution Zone), Alma (Community Zone), or your collaborative network (Network Zone).
- The search starts with a single row, enabling you to select a field to search. To add additional rows, click the duplicate row icon (
) or add row icon (
). To remove a row (other than the first), click the delete row icon (
).
- Each row defaults as additional search criteria that must also match (AND). Select the first field in any row (other than the first) to change the combination type to OR. An implied parentheses is added around all search rows connected by ANDs.
- In the field dropdown list of each row, select the field to search, or enter part of the field name and then select it from the list of matching fields that appears.
- Depending on the field you select, select the match type in the next field in the row. Typical match types include Contains Keywords (words in any order, separated by spaces), Contains Phrase, Is Empty, Starts With, Equals, Not Equals, Greater Than, Greater or Equal Than, Less Than, Less or Equal Than.
- Depending on the match type you select, enter or select the full or partial value(s) in the last field in the row. This field may be a text field to enter free text, a dropdown list, or a calendar selection tool. For certain dropdown lists, such library and permanent physical location, you can select multiple matching values (see the example for Library, above).
- The results of an advanced search appear on the page, below the advanced search form. You can edit the advanced search and run a new search from the results page. Advanced Search Results
Consolidated Configuration Menus
All configuration menus are accessible using the configuration page link. Selecting this link opens the consolidated Alma Configuration page.

Alma Configuration Page
Click Back to Alma to return to Alma.
The Alma Configuration page includes a Location dropdown box to select the location to configure.
When you enter text in the search box, the list of configuration options is filtered to only include the options that match your entered text, with the text highlighted in the matching options. The number of matching options in each Alma area appears next to the area tab on the left.

Alma Configuration Page, Filtered
Close Messages
Messages that appear on the page can be closed by clicking the X on the right of the message.

New PO Line Page