Synopses & Reviews
Today's web sites have moved far beyond "brochureware." They are larger and more complex, have great strategic value to their sponsors, and their users are busier and less forgiving. Designers, information architects, and web site managers are required to juggle vast amounts of information, frequent changes, new technologies, and sometimes even multiple objectives, making some web sites look like a fast-growing but poorly planned city-roads everywhere, but impossible to navigate. Well-planned informationarchitecture has never been as essential as it is now.Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition, shows you how to blend aesthetics and mechanics for distinctive, cohesive web sites that work. Most books on web development concentrate on either the graphics or the technical issues of a site. This book focuses on the framework that holds the two together.This edition contains more than 75% new material. You'll find updated chapters on organization, labeling, navigation, and searching; and a new chapter on thesauri, controlled vocabularies and metadata will help you understand the interconnectedness of these systems. The authors have expanded the methodology chapters to include a more interdisciplinary collection of tools and techniques. They've also complemented the top-down strategies of the first edition with bottom-up approaches that enable distributed, emergent solutions.A whole new section addresses the opportunities and challenges of practicing information architecture, while another section discusses how that work impacts and is influenced by the broader organizational context. New case studies provide models for creating enterprise intranet portals and online communities. Finally, you'll find pointers to a wealth of essential information architecture resources, many of which did not exist a few years ago.By applying the principles outlined in this completely updated classic, you'll build web sites and intranets that are easier to navigate and appealing to your users, as well as scalable and simple to maintain. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition is a treasure trove of ideas and practical advice for anyone involved in building or maintaining a large, complex web site or intranet.
Synopsis
This guide teaches the skills necessary to become a successful information architect (IA). It covers the importance of recognizing the site user's perspective, the IA's role in developing Web sites, the various ways that sites can be made browsable, creating effective and descriptive content labels.
About the Author
Lou Rosenfeld is an independent information architecture consultant. He has been instrumental in helping establish the field of information architecture, and in articulating the role and value of librarianship within the field. Lou played a leading role in organizing and programming the first three information architecture conferences (both ASIS&T Summits and IA 2000). He also presents and moderates at such venues as CHI, COMDEX, Intranets, and the web design conferences produced by Miller Freeman, C|net and Thunder Lizard. He teaches tutorials as part of the Nielsen Norman Group User Experience Conference.
Peter Morville is President and Founder of Semantic Studios, a leading information architecture and knowledge management consulting firm. From 1994 to 2001, Peter was Chief Executive Officer and a co-owner of Argus Associates, a pioneering information architecture design firm with world-class clients including 3Com, AT&T, Compaq, Ernst & Young, Ford, IBM, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, and the Weather Channel. He also served as Executive Director of the ACIA. Over the past 8 years, Peter has written and spoken extensively about information architecture, business strategy, and knowledge management. He has been interviewed by Business Week, Knowledge Management magazine, MSNBC, and the Wall Street Journal.
Table of Contents
Foreword; Preface; What's New in the Second Edition; Organization of This Book; Audience for This Book; Conventions for This Book; Contacting the Authors; Contacting O'Reilly; Acknowledgments; Introducing Information Architecture; Chapter 1: Defining Information Architecture; 1.1 A Definition; 1.2 Tablets, Scrolls, Books, and Libraries; 1.3 Explaining IA to Others; 1.4 What Isn't Information Architecture?; 1.5 Why Information Architecture Matters; 1.6 Bringing Our Work to Life; Chapter 2: Practicing Information Architecture; 2.1 Do We Need Information Architects?; 2.2 Who's Qualified to Practice Information Architecture?; 2.3 Information Architecture Specialists; 2.4 Practicing Information Architecture in the Real World; 2.5 Information Ecologies; 2.6 What Lies Ahead; Chapter 3: User Needs and Behaviors; 3.1 The "Too-Simple" Information Model; 3.2 Information Needs; 3.3 Information Seeking Behaviors; Basic Principles of Information Architecture; Chapter 4: The Anatomy of an Information Architecture; 4.1 Visualizing Information Architecture; 4.2 Information Architecture Components; Chapter 5: Organization Systems; 5.1 Challenges of Organizing Information; 5.2 Organizing Web Sites and Intranets; 5.3 Organization Schemes; 5.4 Organization Structures; 5.5 Creating Cohesive Organization Systems; Chapter 6: Labeling Systems; 6.1 Why You Should Care About Labeling; 6.2 Varieties of Labels; 6.3 Designing Labels; Chapter 7: Navigation Systems; 7.1 Types of Navigation Systems; 7.2 Gray Matters; 7.3 Browser Navigation Features; 7.4 Building Context; 7.5 Improving Flexibility; 7.6 Embedded Navigation Systems; 7.7 Supplemental Navigation Systems; 7.8 Advanced Navigation Approaches; Chapter 8: Search Systems; 8.1 Does Your Site Need Search?; 8.2 Basic Search System Anatomy; 8.3 Choosing What to Search; 8.4 Search Algorithms; 8.5 Presenting Results; 8.6 Designing the Search Interface; 8.7 Where to Learn More; Chapter 9: Thesauri, Controlled Vocabularies, and Metadata; 9.1 Metadata; 9.2 Controlled Vocabularies; 9.3 Technical Lingo; 9.4 A Thesaurus in Action; 9.5 Types of Thesauri; 9.6 Thesaurus Standards; 9.7 Semantic Relationships; 9.8 Preferred Terms; 9.9 Polyhierarchy; 9.10 Faceted Classification; Process and Methodology; Chapter 10: Research; 10.1 Process Overview; 10.2 A Research Framework; 10.3 Context; 10.4 Content; 10.5 Users; 10.6 Participant Definition and Recruiting; 10.7 User Research Sessions; 10.8 In Defense of Research; Chapter 11: Strategy; 11.1 What Is an Information Architecture Strategy?; 11.2 Strategies Under Attack; 11.3 From Research to Strategy; 11.4 Developing the Strategy; 11.5 Work Products and Deliverables; 11.6 The Strategy Report; 11.7 The Project Plan; 11.8 Presentations; Chapter 12: Design and Documentation; 12.1 Guidelines for Diagramming an Information Architecture; 12.2 Blueprints; 12.3 Wireframes; 12.4 Content Mapping and Inventory; 12.5 Content Modeling; 12.6 Controlled Vocabularies; 12.7 Design Sketches; 12.8 Web-Based Prototypes; 12.9 Architecture Style Guides; 12.10 Point-of-Production Architecture; 12.11 Administration; Information Architecture in Practice; Chapter 13: Education; 13.1 Chaos in Education; 13.2 A World of Choice; 13.3 But Do I Need a Degree?; Chapter 14: Ethics; 14.1 Ethical Considerations; 14.2 Shaping the Future; Chapter 15: Building an Information Architecture Team; 15.1 Destructive Acts of Creation; 15.2 Fast and Slow Layers; 15.3 Project Versus Program; 15.4 Buy or Rent; 15.5 Do We Really Need to Hire Professionals?; 15.6 The Dream Team; Chapter 16: Tools and Software; 16.1 A Time of Change; 16.2 Categories in Chaos; 16.3 Questions to Ask; Information Architecture in the Organization; Chapter 17: Making the Case for Information Architecture; 17.1 You Must Sell; 17.2 The Two Kinds of People in the World; 17.3 Running the Numbers; 17.4 Talking to the Reactionaries; 17.5 Other Case-Making Techniques; 17.6 The Information Architecture Value Checklist; 17.7 A Final Note; Chapter 18: Business Strategy; 18.1 The Origins of Strategy; 18.2 Defining Business Strategy; 18.3 Strategic Fit; 18.4 Exposing Gaps in Business Strategy; 18.5 One Best Way; 18.6 Many Good Ways; 18.7 Understanding Our Elephant; 18.8 Competitive Advantage; 18.9 The End of the Beginning; Chapter 19: Information Architecture for the Enterprise; 19.1 Economies Don't Always Scale; 19.2 "Think Different"; 19.3 The Ultimate Goal; 19.4 A Framework for Centralization; 19.5 Timing Is Everything: A Phased Rollout; 19.6 Strategy Versus Tactics: Who Does What; 19.7 A Framework for Moving Forward; Case Studies; Chapter 20: MSWeb: An Enterprise Intranet; 20.1 Challenges for the User; 20.2 Challenges for the Information Architect; 20.3 We Like Taxonomies, Whatever They Are; 20.4 Benefits to Users; 20.5 What's Next; 20.6 MSWeb's Achievement; Chapter 21: evolt.org: An Online Community; 21.1 evolt.org in a Nutshell; 21.2 Architecting an Online Community; 21.3 The Participation Economy; 21.4 How Information Architecture Fits In; 21.5 Trouble Spots for Online Communities; 21.6 The "Un-Information Architecture"; Essential Resources; Communities; Directories; Books; Formal Education; Conferences; News and Opinion; Examples, Deliverables, and Tools; Colophon;