Presenting Information Architecture. Site planning with a team is often easier if you base your major structural planning and decisions on a shared master site diagram that all members of the group can work with. The site diagram should evolve as the plan evolves and act as the core planning document as changes are proposed and made in the diagram. Site diagrams are excellent for planning both the broad scope of the site and the details of where each piece of content, navigation, or interactive functionality will appear.
For major planning meetings consider printing at least one large diagram of the site organization, so that everyone can see the big picture as it develops from meeting to meeting. The site diagram should dominate the conference table, becoming a tactile, malleable representation of the plan. Everyone should be free to make notes and suggest improvements on the printed plan, and the revised diagram becomes the official result of the meeting. Site diagrams Major elements of a mature site diagram include: Information Architecture: Enhancing the User Experience | Webdes. Defined as ‘the structural design of shared information environments’, information architecture focuses on bringing the principles of architectural design to the online world.
Just like the blueprints of a dream home or the outline of a well-written article, good website structure organizes information in a way that enhances the user experience and delivers pertinent information as quickly as possible. In fact, most website visitors only become aware of information architecture when it is poor and stops them from finding the information they require.
Read on for more details and a case study. As usual, you can leave us your feedback at the end of the post… Why Is It Important? Even an optimized site with sleek design and compelling copy can fall flat without sound information architecture. Even though Starbucks is a hugely successful enterprise, missing the mark with this small function of their website is enough to make them lose possible revenue from the big draw of free Wi-Fi. 1. 2. 3. Information Architecture 101: Techniques and Best Practices. By Cameron Chapman Information architecture (IA) is an often-overlooked area of website design. Too often, as designers, we just let the CMS we’re using dictate how content for a site is organized. And that works fine as long as the site fits perfectly into the narrow content formats most CMSs are designed around. But too often, a website’s content breaks the boundaries of most CMSs. This guide covers the fundamentals of information architecture for organizing website content.
Information Architecture Design Patterns There are a number of different IA design patterns[1] for effective organization of website content. Single Page The first pattern is the single page model. Flat Structure This information structure puts all the pages on the same level. Index Page A main page with subpages is probably the most commonly seen website IA pattern. Strict Hierarchy Pattern Some websites use a strict hierarchy of pages for their information design. Co-Existing Hierarchies Pattern Image by Al Abut L.L. How I Structure Site Content. For the last few weeks we’ve been looking at information architecture. First with 8 principles of usability and then with some thoughts about setting up your site structure so search engines could find and understand your content. When I started I promised I would offer my own process for setting up the content structure on a site. First here are those other posts about information architecture to get you caught up in case you missed any.
Bear in mind that much of what follows is the process I use when I have complete control over the information on a site. My process with structuring a client’s site will end up being a little different than what’s described here, though I’ll follow as much of the process below as the client allows. My Process When it’s entirely up to me what content will be included on a site and how that content will be organized I run through the same process.
BrainstormOrganizePruneReviseCreate files and folder structureThink about navigation Brainstorming Organizing. AugSep10_Brown.pdf (application/pdf Object)