| OverviewLearn how to merge aesthetics and mechanics to design web
sites that "work." This book shows how to apply principles
of architecture and library science to design cohesive web
sites and intranets that are easy to use, manage, and
expand. Covers building complex sites, hierarchy design and
organization, and techniques to make your site easier to
search. For webmasters, designers, and administrators. Editorial ReviewsAmazon.comIn Chapter 6 of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, the authors discuss the details of good search-engine design. In a bitingly humorous segment, they analyze a Web site's search-page results: "Let's say you're interested in knowing what the New Jersey sales tax is.... So you go to the State of New Jersey web site and search on sales tax. The 20 results are scored at either 84% or 82% relevant. Why does each document receive only one of two scores?... And what the heck makes a document 2% more relevant than another?" With a swift and convincing stroke, the authors of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web tear down many entrenched ideas about Web design. Flashy animations are cool, they agree, as long as they don't aggravate the viewer. Nifty clickable icons are nice, but are their meanings universal? Is the search engine providing results that are useful and relevant? This book acts as a mirror and with careful questioning causes the reader to think through all the elements and decisions required for well-crafted Web design. --Jennifer Buckendorff | Book DescriptionSome web sites "work" and some don't. Good web site consultants know that you can't just jump in and start writing HTML, the same way you can't build a house by just pouring a foundation and putting up some walls. You need to know who will be using the site, and what they'll be using it for. You need some idea of what you'd like to draw their attention to during their visit. Overall, you need a strong, cohesive vision for the site that makes it both distinctive and usable. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web is about applying the principles of architecture and library science to web site design. Each web site is like a public building, available for tourists and regulars alike to breeze through at their leisure. The job of the architect is to set up the framework for the site to make it comfortable and inviting for people to visit, relax in, and perhaps even return to someday. Most books on web development concentrate either on the aesthetics or the mechanics of the site. This book is about the framework that holds the two together. With this book, you learn how to design web sites and intranets that support growth, management, and ease of use. Special attention is given to: - The process behind architecting a large, complex site
- Web site hierarchy design and organization
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web is for webmasters, designers, and anyone else involved in building a web site. It's for novice web designers who, from the start, want to avoid the traps that result in poorly designed sites. It's for experienced web designers who have already created sites but realize that something "is missing" from their sites and want to improve them. It's for programmers and administrators who are comfortable with HTML, CGI, and Java but want to understand how to organize their web pages into a cohesive site. The authors are two of the principals of Argus Associates, a web consulting firm. At Argus, they have created information architectures for web sites and intranets of some of the largest companies in the United States, including Chrysler Corporation, Barron's, and Dow Chemical. |
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Reader Reviews From Amazon (Ranked by 'Helpfulness') Average Customer Rating: based on 62 reviews. Very In Depth Coverage of Information Architecture, 2007-09-11 Reviewer rating: There's a lot more to information architecture (IA) than you might realize until you read this. IA is particularly critical to the design of large web sites which can quickly evolve into incomprehensible mazes for the users & their designers. Designers need a systematic framework for ensuring the site's content & navigation evolves in a manor that is intuitive to the user & manageable for the developers. This sort of framework is described in depth in this classic. Not a quick read, but a necessary read to understand what designers of large web must consider. | The worst O'Reilly Book I've ever read, 2003-09-17 Reviewer rating: I usually love O'Reilly - I've never bought a book of theirs that I didn't find occasion to go back to for some reason at some point before this book. Most O'Reilly books have info that you can reference when your actually working on a project - this book doesn't even prepare you for discussing the task intellegently. Granted, if this were not an O'Reilly book I would have given it 2 stars, but I have higher expectations from O'Reilly. An example of what I found incredibly frustrating about the book follows. I expected the section called "Designing Elegant Navigation Systems" (the last section in the chapter "Designing Navigation Systems") to contain advice about what to include in the navigation system and suggestions for designing navigation systems. I got one page of babeling that included sentances like "Based on the hierarchy, you will be able to select key pages (or types of pages) that shoudl be accessible from every other page on the web site." At no point to they suggest what sorts of pages should be accessible. They don't mention the ones that should be obvious: feedback, home, and search; nor do they discuss if or when it's desirable to have one link from each major subsection in the global navigation. The whole book was disapointing to me, I don't really feel that I learned much of anything on the subject. I knew nothing of the field to start with, so I feel I should have come away from any well written book on the subject with some comprehension of the field. | Don't waste your time, 2003-06-19 Reviewer rating: I expected more from Peter. The book shows that many still don't know what an information architecture is and how to use it. | Not too impressed, 2002-06-30 Reviewer rating: I was disappointed in this book, particularly because it has the O'Reilly imprint. It's too vague to be of much use, I thought. Not bad, but not very helpful, either. | Great foundational piece!, 2002-03-30 Reviewer rating: Rosenfeld and Morville's book makes, perhaps, its greatest contribution by presenting its potentially intimidating subject in a way that makes it accessible to virtually any reader. This is no small task and speaks as much about the authors' gift for writing as it does about their technical knowledge. In my office, this book has become foundational reading and I recommend it highly to colleagues or anyone interested in the presentation of information through the web. |
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