What is Information Architecture?

Information architecture is how a web site is structured, and it describes how elements of a web site work together. As stated by Rosenfield and Morville (2002);

“Information architecture is the combination of organisation, labeling and navigation schemes within an information system”.

Impact of Information Architecture on web sites

How the information architecture is constructed within a web site can have both positive and negative impacts upon the following issues;

  • Finding information
    • Time will be effected depending on the information architecture
    • If information is hard to find this could lead to loss of revenue
  • Value of education
    • Information about new products
  • Cost of construction
    • Site re-design
  • Cost of maintenance
    • Is maintenance easy or difficult?
  • Cost of training
    • This will ultimately increase with complexity
  • Value of the brand
    • Poor site design will have a negative effect on brand image

Organisation Methods

The following means of organisation information are used within information architecture.

Exact organisation schemes support ‘known item’ searching;

  • Alphabetical
    • For example a web site selling CD’s will often have the ability to list artists by name (e.g. www.bangcd.com).
  • Chronological
    • Web sites that provide access to journal articles, will often allow users to display articles in order of the date they were released (e.g. acm.org/dl).M
  • Geographical
    • Travel and air line web sites will often arrange information in geographical order (e.g. www.easyjet.co.uk).
  • Multiple Organisation Schemes
    • Some web sites may use multiple organisation schemes, for example web sites providing weather information will allow users to search through chronological or geographical areas of the country.

Jakob Nielson states;

“…in pursuit of their goal, users often rely on search as their main hunting strategy”
Nielson, J. (2000)

Therefore implementing a ‘known item’ search method successfully within a web site will improve the usability of the web site.

Ambiguous organisation schemes support information seeking when only partial information is known

  • Topical
  • Task-oriented
  • Audience-specific
  • Top-Down Organisation Approach (e.g. site maps)
  • Hierarchical structure (e.g. family trees and books separated into chapters)
    • This method is widely used
    • It is easily understandable
    • Top level categories MUST be mutually exclusive
    • A sensitive balance between exclusivity and inclusivity must be found
    • Particularly problematic in ambiguous organisation schemes
    • A balance between breadth and depth must be found
    • This method is constrained by the user’s scanning ability

Labeling

Labels represent chunks of information; additionally language is a labeling system for concepts and objects.

Types of Labels

  • Contextual Links
    • Hyperlinks
  • Headings
    • Establish content hierarchy
  • Navigation
    • Represent navigational options
  • Index terms
    • Keywords and subject headings for searching or browsing

Labeling Guidelines

  • Narrow the Scope
    • Modularise
    • Create audience-specific sub-sites (e.g. the University of Derby has a UDSU sub site)
    • Excludes site wide navigation
  • Be Consistent
    • Consistency means predictability
    • Easier to learn
    • Intuitive

Consistency is affected by;

  • Appearance
  • Syntax
  • Granularity
  • Comprehensiveness
  • Audience

Navigation

Navigation should;

  • Provide contextual clues
  • Present the structure of the information hierarchy
  • Indicate the current location
    • Page title
    • Breadcrumb Trail
    • Use of colour coding
    • Menu links changing colour
  • Allow flexibility (both lateral and vertical)
  • Be consistent from page to page
  • Visually relate items that are related logically

Navigational Categories

  • Global Navigation
    • Reinforces site structure and should include
      • Site ID
      • The way home
      • A way to search
      • Utilities
      • List of content sections
  • Contextual Navigation
    • Provides links to individual pages (e.g. ‘see also’ and ‘related topics’ on newspaper web sites)
  • Supplemental Navigation
    • Site maps
      • Is a model of the structure of a website on a single page.
      • Can be graphical or text-based (Text-based are easier to maintain than graphical)
      • Provide users with a way to navigate a site without having to use the global navigation. (Fox, C., 2003 )
      • Can help a lost or confused user find their way by providing a visual layout and structure of the site. (Fox, C., 2003)
    • Indexes
      • The visual design should facilitate scanning. (Fox, C., 2003)
      • This is important as Jakob Nielson states that; “users almost always scan – they rarely read carefully online” (Nielson, J., 2000)
    • Guides

According to Jakob Nielson (2000) , in order for navigation to be successful in producing a highly usable web site it should not be “over done”. Nielson suggests that not all features of the web site should be present on all pages; that having “a small number of standard links on every page” is more likely to get the attention of the users

For successful navigation, Nielson also states that the web site should not link to all sections of the site from all pages; a link to the home page on every page is more usable. Along with this Nielson suggests that breadcrumb trails are essential in providing a usable web site.

Jakob Nielson states;

“Without structural links, pages become orphans”
Nielson, J. (2000)