Information Architecture and its Elements
Abstract
The logical flow of the web pages is: how the sequence of pages
is displayed and under which button names the content is sorted.
All content sorted under one button is called a "Module" or "Section".
The display of the content is grouped in modules and often
content is then again split into its own categories, called
sub navigation, which can be several levels deep. Our advice
is: keep it simple.
The interactivity of the user with the web site interface is
an element of the information architecture and is more then
often confusing for the user. Questions what do I do next should
be made clear beforehand and unexpected events should be avoided.
Is a filled in form submitted or not should be communicated
clearly to the user by showing confirmation pages when the
submit process was successful or an alert should be triggered
if it was unsuccessful.
The content
Interesting articles and stories should
be selected. Relevant information about the firm, news and up
to date communication of events should be communicated. Our concept
of this web site, to give you an example, is to inform
our clients and future clients of:
- how we work
- what we do
- when we do it
- and why we do it.
and we explain the most important factors of professional
web design to our audience. When you want to have a web site developed
and you have no idea about the process, then you easily can end
up with a bad result. The whole buying process can easily be compared
with buying a second hand car, when one has no knowledge of the
mechanic but only knows how to use it.
Most web design companies give little to no information about
their way of working but put pretty images of pretty people or
shaking hands on their pages and use great sounding slogans, therefore
it is not easy for anybody to compare web design services the
various and different companies offer. Clients who merely focus
on the price can also knock on our door, and will receive a pretty
site, which can also work great - but it will be a fast track
web site with a limited number of pages with no or only little
functionality and limited space for information. So one element
of our concept and information architecture of this web site is,
to create transparency.
Scenarios: if - when - while define the system response
We develop the information architecture based on scenarios.
These scenarios will answer the questions "what happens when the
internet user is experiencing an error or searching for the specific
information ...." and then come up with the solution. Decisions
have to be made on the level of the usability and friendliness
of the system without jeopardizing the security.
User friendly
Readability on a monitor is much harder than on paper. Wide lines
of text should therefore be avoided. The text should be separated
in short paragraphs. This makes it easier on the eye to follow
the sentences on the screen.
When do we expect the content?
The content should be written and completed
not later than in the middle of the design phase. We can provide
the content to in case you have trouble to
gather the stories, facts and articles or can assist you to write
it. We also are able to take care of the needed translations.
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