Today's Topic: Information Architecture I

The best web sites start with careful planning, and avoid the “Winchester Mystery House” style of on-the-fly architecture.

As we’ve discussed, the difference between 741 and 737 is that in the former we talk about how to build pages while in the latter we talk about how to build sites. That’s the focus of this week’s lecture…how to effectively organize and present large amounts of information in a way that’s useful to the intended audience.

Readings on Information Architecture

• Webmonkey’s Information Architecture Tutorial
• Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web (yes, the whole book. you’ve got the holiday break to do it, and this is a very good time to learn the fine art of skimming…)

information architecture schema examples

Exact Organizational Schema

• Alphabetical: RIT Web Site Catalog
• Chronological: Most weblogs (like Widgetopia)
• Geographical: Weather Underground
• Numerical: Internet RFC Index

Ambiguous Organizational Schema

• Topical: A List Apart
• Task-Oriented: Cartoon Network
• Audience-Focused: FrontierOnline
• Metaphorical: Neopets

Hybrid Schema

• Ebay uses more than one kind of navigation…how many do you see?

group accounts

I have created accounts for each group on our polaris server. The user ID is your group name, and the default password will be given out in class (I strongly encourage you to change the password as soon as possible).

The default web directory on polaris is public_html, rather than www. You’ll need to create the public_html directory in your home directory, and set the permissions (for it and anything you put in it) to allow reading (there’s no “ofw” script on polaris!).

Polaris now supports secure shell (ssh) connections, so I strongly encourage you to use ssh instead of telnet when connecting to the server (you should do this on grace, as well).

Interesting Links

Many of the links that I discuss in class can be found on my del.icio.us page. It’s a freeform bookmark maintenance system that allows you to share links with others, and subscribe to other people’s lists of links.