Information Architecture Planning

Articles and resources about information architecture planning with regards to government websites.

Information Architecture References

Resources about information architecture references and its relationship to egovernment.

Information Architecture Tools

Articles and resources about information architecture tools.

Information Architecture - Breadcrumb Navigation - Archive

Resources about breadcrumb navigation, which provides users with a textual representation of where and how information is located within a website.

Information Architecture - Card Sorting - Archive

Articles and resources about card sorting, a technique used by information architects as an input to the structure of a site or product.

Information Architecture - Facets - Archive

Articles and resources about facets, also called faceted classification, which provides users with the ability to find items based on more than one dimension.

Information Architecture - Navigation - Archive

Articles and resources about navigation.

Information Architecture - Site Indexes and Site Maps - Archive

Articles and resources about site indexes and site maps.

Information Architecture - Taxonomies - Archive

Articles and resources about the use of taxonomies in information architecture, and particularly in government websites.

Information Architecture - Topic Maps - Archive

Articles and resources about topic maps, which are an information architecture tool for representation of model-based data on the web for enhanced access.

Information Architecture - Wireframes - Archive

Articles and resources about the use of wireframes in information architecture.

Information Architecture: Part 1 - Archive

Resources about information architecture and information management and its relationship to egovernment.

Information Architecture: Part 2 - Archive

Resources about information architecture and information management and its relationship to egovernment.

Internet Information Architecture Best Practice Analysis

This document records findings from the internet best practice analysis activity conducted by the Information Architecture (IA) Strategy project team within the Web Domain Group, Department of Human Services (DHS). The best practices outlined in this document will be used as a reference point for the project team to help ensure the work produced by the IA Strategy project meets recognised best practices in the internet sector.

SEO Siloing: Building a Themed Website

Bruce Clay, 2010. "Search engines award top keyword rankings to the site that proves that it the best fit for the relevancy of a subject or theme that matches the user query. As a result the primary goal of SEO is to improve the website so that the site is about more than targeted keyword phrases – it is about the themes matching those keywords. More often than not, a website is a disjointed array of unrelated information with no clear central theme. Such a site suffers in search engine rankings for sought after keywords. Siloing a website will serve to clarify your website's subject relevance and will lay the groundwork for high keyword rankings. It is a core building block for search engine optimization and is normally an advanced topic..."

Back to Basics: SEO-Friendly Web Development - How Silos and the CMS Can Make or Break Your Site

by Jessica Lee, Bruce Clay, September 27, 2011. "It's a problem we here at Bruce Clay, Inc. see time and time again in the Internet business community: poor information architecture and inefficient content management systems (CMS) are obstructing SEO. And while there are many aspects that go into a successful SEO-ready website, information architecture, or siloing, and a good CMS play a huge part in the way a site performs for the search engine, the way visitors interact with the site and the way site owners manage it.

Best Practices for Optimizing Your Navigation

by Tim Ash. ClickZ, September 20, 2011. "Header navigation menus and sub-navigation menus are one of the most common ways of navigating through a website, therefore the most critical to optimize. There are many best practices you should adopt for these major navigation menus..."

SEO Smackdown: Information Architecture vs. Technical Architecture

by Shari Thurow. Search Engine Land, September 2, 2011. "Since 1995, the costliest search engine optimization mistake I've encountered is poor information architecture. And when I tell a client that the core issue with findability is the website’s information architecture, my findings are immediately passed to the technical team. Inevitably, someone on the technical team kindly points out that the content is crawlable, and the architecture is fine. And since I don’t know Google’s algorithm, I must be wrong. Result? A whirlwind series of conversations that yielded bruised egos, a poorly architected website with little or no search engine visibility, and frustrated clients. How did that happen? Where were the disconnections and miscommunication?..."

An Information Architecture Story: Reshaping www.plainlanguage.gov to Meet Changed Needs

by Thom Haller. American Society for Information Science and Technology - Bulletin, August/September 2011. "Have you ever asked, 'What do people do when they develop a site architecture – especially if there is little time and no money?' If so, this article's for you..."

Categories, Facets - and Browsable Facets?

By Jaimie Sirovich. UX Matters, Published: August 23, 2011. "In my explorations of taxonomies - especially taxonomies for ecommerce sites - the case I find the most frustrating is what I, for lack of a better term, have christened the browsable facet. All UX professionals likely know the following generalizations about faceted navigation: - Hierarchical category trees are good for making fundamental decisions—for example, choosing camera or camcorder. - Facets are good for deciding details and narrowing or broadening the scope of available options—for example: What resolution? Which brand? Users have become accustomed to using facets, which are usually to the left of or above products..."

Mini-IA: Structuring the Information About a Concept

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, June 21, 2011. "Summary: In a miniature information architecture, coverage of a single topic is chunked into units that are connected through simple navigation. In our course, IA 1: Structuring and Organizing Web-Based Information, one of the topics is "Mini Information Architecture." This isn't something that's often discussed, and several people have asked me what we mean by this term. The definition of mini-IA is simple: it's how you structure the information about a single topic, concept, product, or article. For example, the Alertbox column you're reading now has the simplest possible mini-IA — a single page, with a linear presentation of the information..."

Tree testing: an important step early in the web design process

by Martin Rosenmejer, Webcredible, July 2011. "Websites can be nicely laid out and can even have well written content, but if the underlying information structure (otherwise known as Information Architecture or IA) is illogical, users won't be able to find what they're looking for and this can result in frustration and a disliking for the site. This is often the case, causing bad user experience and driving potential customers elsewhere..."

Successful Site Architecture for SEO

Posted by Richard Baxter. SEOmoz - The Daily SEO Blog, March 1, 2011. "... For me, great site architecture is all about improving how users and search engines find their way around your site. It’s about getting the best, most relevant content in front of users and reducing the number of times they have to click to find it. The same applies to search engines, by flattening your site architecture; you can make potential gains in indexation metrics such as the number of pages generating search engine traffic and the number of pages in a search engine index..."

5 Steps to Building a Successful Site Architecture

by Ron Jones. Clickz, June 13, 2011. "I have come across many website development projects that seem to focus too much on the visual aspects of their website before they put any thought into the structure and information flow. By just inserting information design, sometimes called information architecture at the beginning of your process, you can dramatically change your website's performance. The benefits of a successful site architecture will not only increase visitor engagement but it will help you attract more of the right visitors. This process will also lead to higher conversions..."

How To Use Effective Navigation Labels for Search Engine Optimization

by Shari Thurow. Search Engine Land, May 13, 2011. "One of the key components of a website's information architecture (IA) and corresponding navigation is an effective labeling system. Of course, as search engine optimizers, we understand that a website's labeling system should contain keywords. However, there seems to be confusion among search engine optimization (SEO) professionals, information architects, web designers/developers, and usability professionals about what constitutes an effective system..."

Three Easy Steps to Achieve IA Greatness

by Stoney deGeyter. Search Engine Guide, 25 February 2011. "We live in a digital age, but haven't quite gotten to that mythical paperless society that we've been reading about for the past couple of decades. Those of us that make our living via websites still rely on good old fashioned compressed wood to fulfill a number of our daily tasks. One of those tasks that often takes us away from our computer monitors and into the world of post-its, index cards, and cork boards has been when working on a site's information architecture. This can be a big task, that often requires a lot of table or wall space..."

User Experience Workshops - Information Architecture and Web Navigation Design

UX Workshops in Sydney with James Kalbach. WORKSHOP 1: Information Architecture for Strategic Web Design - Thursday 28 April 2011 - This workshop focuses on the conceptual and strategic side of information architecture (IA). WORKSHOP 2: Web Navigation Design - Friday 29 April 2011 - This workshop focuses on the nuts and bolts of good navigation design.

Keywords, Text Links & Navigation Design

by Shari Thurow. Search Engine Land, December 17, 2010. "It is common knowledge for many search engine optimizers to put keywords in text links, because, quite simply, search engine representatives have made this recommendation for many years. However, many search engine optimization (SEO) professionals go overboard and put too many keywords in site navigation, making site navigation too difficult to use or scan. And, on the flip side, many professionals outside of the search industry remove important keywords from navigation, frustrating SEO professionals..."

How to Create Site Information Architecture

by Kristine Schachinger. Search Engine Watch, September 23, 2010. "... Why You Need a Site Information Architecture - Your site information architecture is essentially your building plan. If you were building a house, it would be your blueprint. You wouldn't build a house without a blueprint, so why would you build a website without a proper site architecture? The architecture tells your designer what parts of the site should be graphically emphasized, either for user retention or revenue generation. It also tells your content team what content they are creating and your business team how they will best evaluate how well the site meets their business goals..."