Information Architecture
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The document discusses information architecture and its primary aims which include organizing content into taxonomies and hierarchies, communicating site structure to teams, researching navigation concepts, and setting standards for markup and content handling. It provides details on organizing content through inventories, hierarchies, taxonomies, chunking information, and designing site structure using sequences, hierarchies and webs. Diagrams and wireframes are presented as tools to visualize and communicate information architecture design.
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Information Architecture
- 1. Information Architecture Design informs even the simplest structure, whether of brick and steel or prose. —E. B. White
- 2. Primary Aims • Organize the site content into taxonomies and hierarchies of information; • Communicate conceptual overviews and the overall site organization to the design team and clients; • Research and design the core site navigation concepts; • Set standards and specifications for the handling of HTML semantic markup, and the format and handling of text content; and • Design and implement search optimization standards and strategies. Website Design and Implementation 2
- 3. Topics • OrganizingYour Information • Site Structure • Presenting Information Architecture Website Design and Implementation 3
- 4. OrganizingYour Information Website Design and Implementation 4
- 5. 5 Basic Steps in Information Architecture 1. Inventory your content: What do you have already?What do you need? 2. Establish a hierarchical outline of your content and create a controlled vocabulary so the major content, site structure, and navigation elements are always identified consistently; 3. Chunking: Divide your content into logical units with a consistent modular structure; 4. Draw diagrams that show the site structure and rough outlines of pages with a list of core navigation links; and 5. Analyze your system by testing the organization interactively with real users; revise as needed. Website Design and Implementation 5
- 6. Content Inventories • A content inventory is a detailed listing of basic information about all the content that exists in a site to be redesigned or, in some cases, a site to be newly created from existing content resources. • Content inventories are most useful in the initial project planning and information architecture phases, but a detailed content inventory will be useful throughout the project for both planning and build-out of the site. Website Design and Implementation 6
- 7. Web Content Inventories • Unique ID number for project purposes • Page title • Page template or type • URL • General type of content • Person responsible for the content • Keep/revise/discard decisions • Create new content? • Review status Website Design and Implementation 7 Basic information collected include:
- 8. Hierarchies and taxonomies • General categories become high-ranking elements of the hierarchy of information • Specific chunks of information are positioned lower in the hierarchy • Chunks of information are ranked in importance and organized by relevance to one of the major categories Website Design and Implementation 8
- 9. Taxonomies and controlled vocabularies • Taxonomy is the science and practice of classification. • In information architecture, a taxonomy is a hierarchical organization of content categories, using a specific, carefully designed set of descriptive terms. Website Design and Implementation 9
- 10. Five hat racks:Themes to organize information • Category • Time • Location • Alphabetic • Continuum Website Design and Implementation 10
- 11. Chunking Information • Few web users read long passages of text onscreen. • Discrete chunks of information lend themselves to web links. • Chunking can help organize and present information in a modular layout that is consistent throughout the site. • Concise chunks of information are better suited to the computer screen, which provides a limited view of long documents. Website Design and Implementation 11
- 12. Site Structure Website Design and Implementation 12
- 13. Website Design and Implementation 13 Don’t make a confusing web of links. Designers aren’t the only ones who make models of sites. Users try to imagine the site structure as well, and a successful information architecture will help the user build a firm and predictable mental model of your site.
- 14. Browse Functionality Website Design and Implementation 14 Examples of the “Goldilocks problem” in getting the site structure “just right.”Too shallow a structure (left) forces menus to become too long.Too deep a structure (right) and users get frustrated as they dig down through many layers of menus.
- 15. Site Search Website Design and Implementation 15 The “long tail” of web search. Large sites are just too large to depend solely on browsing. Heavily used pages are likely to appear on browsing menus pages, but obscure pages deep within the site will only be found and read through web search technologies.
- 16. StructuralThemes • Web sites are built around basic structural themes that both form and reinforce a user’s mental model of how you have organized your content. • Three essential structures can be used to build a web site: – sequences, – hierarchies, and – webs. Website Design and Implementation 16
- 17. StructuralThemes: Sequences Website Design and Implementation 17
- 18. StructuralThemes: Hierarchies Website Design and Implementation 18
- 19. StructuralThemes: Webs Website Design and Implementation 19
- 20. Website Design and Implementation 20 Choose the right site structure for your audience and content.
- 21. Presenting Information Architecture Website Design and Implementation 21
- 22. Site Diagrams • Site diagrams visualize the developing information hierarchy and help communicate the organizational concepts to the team and to stakeholders and project sponsors. • Site diagrams can range from simple hierarchical “org chart” diagrams to more complex and information-rich maps that show both the major divisions of the site as the user experiences them, but also act as an overview of the site directory and file structure. Website Design and Implementation 22
- 23. Site Diagrams Major Elements: • Content structure and organization: major site content divisions and subdivisions • Logical functional grouping or structural relationships • The “click depth” of each level of the site: How many clicks are required to reach a given page? • Page type or template (menu page, internal page, major section entry point, and so on) • Site directory and file structure • Dynamic data elements like databases, RSS, or applications • Major navigation terms and controlled vocabularies • Link relationships, internal and external to the site • Levels of user access, log-ins required, or other restricted areas Website Design and Implementation 23
- 24. Website Design and Implementation 24
- 25. Website Design and Implementation 25
- 26. Wireframes Website Design and Implementation 26
- 27. Wireframes: Standard Elements • Organizational logo • Site identity or titles • Page title headlines • Breadcrumb trail navigation • Search form • Links to a larger organization of which you are a part • Global navigation links for the site • Local content navigation • Primary page content • Mailing address and email information • Copyright statements • Contact information Website Design and Implementation 27
- 28. WhereTo PutThings and Why Website Design and Implementation 28 Classic rules of composition and our reading habits combine to govern how we approach information displays.
- 29. WhereTo PutThings and Why Website Design and Implementation 29 Eye-tracking studies show that our page- scanning patterns are dominated by top-left scanning for the most important words and links on a page.
- 30. Website Design and Implementation 30 Where users expect to find standard web page components
- 31. Website Design and Implementation 31 Where users expect to find standard web page components
- 32. Information Architecture Reference: Web Style Guide, 3rd edition by Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton
Notas do Editor
- In the context of web site design, information architecture describes the overall conceptual models and general designs used to plan, structure, and assemble a site.
- In large web projects the role of information architect will probably be filled by an individual with long experience in organizing and presenting information, particularly in the context of the web. However, in many projects the information architecture of the site will become a joint project among the design, editorial, and technical teams.
- Web content inventories of existing sites commonly take the form of a spreadsheet file with multiple worksheets, containing long listings of every page in the site, along with such essential characteristics as the page title, url, people responsible for the content…
- Hierarchical organization is a virtual necessity on the web. Most sites depend on hierarchies, moving from the broadest overview of the site (the home page), down through increasingly specific submenus and content pages. In information architecture you create categories for your information and rank the importance of each piece of information by how general or specific that piece is relative to the whole. Once you have determined a logical set of priorities and relations in your content outlines, you can build a hierarchy from the most important or general concepts down to the most specific or detailed topics.
- One of the most important jobs of the information architect thus is producing a consistent set of names and terms to describe the chief site content categories, the key navigation site links, and major terms to describe the interactive features of the site. This controlled vocabulary becomes a foundational element of the content organization, the user interface, the standard navigation links seen on every page of the site, and the file and directory structure of the site itself.
- In Information Anxiety (1989), Richard Saul Wurman posits that there are five fundamental ways to organize information: the “five hat racks” on which you can hang information. Category: Organization by the similarity of characteristics or relatedness of the items. Examples include topics of books in a bookstore or library and items in a department or grocery store. Time: Organization by timeline or history, where elements are presented in a sequential step-by-step manner. This approach is commonly used in training. Other examples include television listings, a history of specific events, and measuring the response times of different systems. Location: Organization by spatial or geographic location, most often used for orientation and direction. This most graphic of the categories obviously lends itself to maps but is also used extensively in training, repair, and user manual illustrations and other instances where information is tied to a place. Alphabetic: Organization based on the initial letter of the names of items. Obvious examples are telephone and other name-oriented directories, dictionaries, and thesauri, where users know the word or name they are seeking. Alphabetic systems are simple to grasp and familiar in everyday life. This method of organization is less effective for short lists of unrelated things but is powerful for long lists. Continuum: Organization by the quantity of a measured variable over a range, such as price, score, size, or weight. Continuum organization is most effective when organizing many things that are all measured or scored the same way. Examples include rankings and reviews of all kinds, such as the U.S. News and World Report ranking of colleges and universities, the best movies in a given year, darkest or lightest items, and other instances where a clear weight or value can be assigned to each item.
- The concept of a chunk of information must be flexible and consistent with common sense, logical organization, and convenience. Let the nature of the content suggest how it should be subdivided and organized. Although short web documents are usually preferable, it makes little sense to divide a long document arbitrarily, particularly if you want users to be able to print easily or save the document in one step.
- A logical, consistently named site organization allows users to make successful predictions about where to find things. Consistent methods of organizing and displaying information permit users to extend their knowledge from familiar pages to unfamiliar ones.
- If your web site is actively growing, the proper balance of menus and content pages is a moving target. Feedback from users (and analyzing your own use of the site) can help you decide if your menu scheme has outlived its usefulness or has weak areas. Complex document structures require deeper menu hierarchies, but users should never be forced into page after page of menus if direct access is possible. With a well-balanced, functional hierarchy you can offer users menus that provide quick access to information and reflect the organization of your site.
- The simplest and most familiar way to organize information is to place it in a sequence. This is the structure of books, magazines, and all other print matter. Sequential ordering may be chronological, a logical series of topics progressing from the general to the specific, or alphabetical, as in indexes, encyclopedias, and glossaries. Straight sequences are the most appropriate organization for training or education sites, for example, in which the user is expected to progress through a fixed set of material and the only links are those that support the linear navigation path. More complex web sites may still be organized as a logical sequence, but each page in the sequence may have links to one or more pages of digressions, parenthetical information, or information on other web sites.
- Information hierarchies are the best way to organize most complex bodies of information. Because web sites are usually organized around a single home page, which then links to subtopic menu pages, hierarchical architectures are particularly suited to web site organization. Hierarchical diagrams are very familiar in corporate and institutional life, so most users find this structure easy to understand. A hierarchical organization also imposes a useful discipline on your own analytical approach to your content, because hierarchies are practical only with well-organized material. The simplest form of hierarchical site structure is a star, or hub-and-spoke, set of pages arrayed off a central home page. The site is essentially a single-tier hierarchy. Navigation tends to be a simple list of subpages, plus a link for the home page. Most web sites adopt some form of multi-tiered hierarchical or tree architecture. This arrangement of major categories and subcategories has a powerful advantage for complex site organization in that most people are familiar with hierarchical organizations, and can readily form mental models of the site structure.
- Weblike organizational structures pose few restrictions on the pattern of information use. In this structure the goal is often to mimic associative thought and the free flow of ideas, allowing users to follow their interests in a unique, heuristic, idiosyncratic pattern. This organizational pattern develops with dense links both to information elsewhere in the site and to information at other sites. Although the goal of this organization is to exploit the web’s power of linkage and association to the fullest, weblike structures can just as easily propagate confusion. Ironically, associative organizational schemes are often the most impractical structure for web sites because they are so hard for the user to understand and predict. Webs work best for small sites dominated by lists of links and for sites aimed at highly educated or experienced users looking for further education or enrichment and not for a basic understanding of a topic.
- 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.
- A simple site diagram for use in presentations and general overviews and the same site shown in greater detail for use by the site development team.
- Ideally the information architecture will be consistently reflected in the actual organization of files and directories in the site structure.
- If site diagrams provide the global overview of the developing web site, then wireframes are the “rough map” that will eventually be used by graphic and interface designers to create preliminary and final page designs for the site. Wireframes are rough two-dimensional guides to where the major navigation and content elements of your site might appear on the page. They bring a consistent modular structure to the various page forms of your site and provide the fundamental layout and navigation structure for the finished templates to come.