Site structure / information architecture

• Content is king! Positive correlation between interesting, relevant content and satisfaction. Dissatisfaction is usually associated with poor usability.
• Visitors do not usually make the effort to form mental maps of the structure of a site to help them understand and navigate it. They muddle through, sticking with something that works (thereby avoiding more cognitive effort).
• Structure the site to support users tasks, not the company organization.
  ... Example of business unit linking not effective.
• Hierarchical listing of contents of a site can be effective for site-wide global navigation.
  ... LA Times is a good example.
• Launching new pages is problematic, but can retain context when linking to off-site content. Pop-up window of different size and position useful for transitory content.
  ... Why is the "Back" button disabled?

References:
Spool et al., Web site usability: A designer's guide, 1999.
Nielsen, Designing web usability, 2000.
Krug, Don't make me think: A common sense approach to web usability, 2000.

[Contents] [Previous] [Next]