Elsevier is on course to make some dramatic improvements to Science Direct, as our sneak preview of the new interface below demonstrates. It could well be, quite simply, a great leap forward.

In advance of the official announcement this week, I had the opportunity to chat with Science Direct director Joep Verheggen, who outlined the key objectives of the redesign.

These are: a task-oriented homepage (as opposed to a homepage packed with marketing collateral), a simpler navigational path for users (fewer clicks to get at information) and improved Quick Search options. They all suggest that Elsevier is getting its priorities well and truly right on usability.

As this screengrab of the new interface shows (left) search, browsing and personalisation features are now all central to the user experience when you log-in. As Verheggen says, recent actions (articles accessed, saved searches, issues browsed) are important to users, who want to start where they left off.

So having these, quick links and alerts at the centre of the homepage makes sense. Elsevier also wants to encourage users to browse its library of content, hence the menu on the left.

Currently, the site is very much structured around Elsevier's different publishing units - books, journals, serials, etc (see screengrab left). Now the emphasis is on allowing users to operate within a subject area or multiple areas.

Quick search options have also been improved, and QS will now be available on all pages beneath the main green menu bar. It allows you to search on specific record fields - author, title, volume, etc - as well as words in titles, abstracts and full text. It also lets you specify timescales more easily.

Verheggen tells me that this is just the first of a rolling programme of changes - Elsevier expects to upgrade its main search engine for Science Direct in the new year.

Verheggen also says he is entirely confident Science Direct will hit the deadline to switch over in the middle of August - I imagine the date has been fixed when user levels are their lowest while everyone takes their summer holidays. The prototype goes live in a couple of weeks, and I'm looking forward to getting access to it for review purposes.

Watch this space.