In an article called, Information Architecture for the Rest of Us, John S. Rhodes discusses what information architecture is and what it can do to help visitors find their way around an organizational web site.
The keys to information architecture are:
Orientation
Helping people know exactly where they are
On the web this is achieved through things like logos, URLs, breadcrumbs (where is this page in relation to other pages), page footers (who published this, when was it published)
Navigation
Helping people figure out where they want to go
Tools include: back/forward buttons, breadcrumbs (where did I come from?), search engines, top of page markers, visited pages
Routefinding
Helping people get from point A to point B
Aids include: effective header links, effective contextual links, search engine results, recommended pages, most popular pages, email this page.
Routefinding tends to be very personal. People want to move through things in their own way. Some people like one search engine better than another or find one site incomprehensible when someone else thinks it's simple and easy to use. The ultimate goal is to make your site as useful as possible for everyone who comes there.
Posted by dcoates at February 12, 2002 09:01 AM