Website development.The recommended activities. Part 4 - Essay Example

Webmonkey 4 "After creating a good site structure, everything else will fall into place. It can't help but do so! A well-designed structure makes iteasy to define a navigation system, and the two together make designing page layouts and templates a snap. This is the last step before you can actually get into building things" (Shiple, 1998, pg. 4). The purpose of this paper is to read through Lesson 4, and carry out as many of the recommended activities as possible. Core Lessons This particular portion of the tutorial is concerned with building site structure.

According to the author, there are four components of building site structure, and they are as follows: metaphor exploration, set it in stone, define navigation, and design your document (Shiple, 1998). The first step of this section of the tutorial is metaphor exploration. The author explains that there are three different types of metaphors that apply here: organizational, functional, and visual. Organizational metaphors are based on the existing structure of an organization. Functional metaphors link tasks that can be performed on the site with those that can be performed elsewhere.

Visual metaphors are based on graphics that are familiar to most people within a particular culture (Shiple, 2008). The second step of this part of the processis to set it in stone. "Now that you have a rationale for the site structure, you'll want to set it in stone. You can start off by creating a text-based, hierarchical map of the site, called the "site structure listing" (Shiple, 2008, pg. 4) The fourth step of the process is to define navigation. "Take a look at the site structure listing.

What are the major sections These are excellent candidates for the global navigation system, which appears on every page of the site and enables users to quickly jump between sections. If at all possible, try to limit the number of global navigation elements to between five and seven. Another good idea is to incorporate the branding of your site - the company logo - into the global navigation as part of the link back to the site's homepage" (Shiple, 2008, pg. 4) The last step is to add a chapter to the document on site structure.

It should contain all of the elements that have been discussed herein, along with all of the details that go along with them (Shiple, 2008). Activities Recommended Once again, these activities seem simple, but none of them were able to be carried out since there was no organization available to practice on. The main lesson learned information architecture as a socio-technical issue from the tutorial format, above and beyond what was learned from other sources was that the simple, easy-to-follow, step-by-step format made it much easier to understand that just reading about the process and its definition alone.

The organizational aspects are worthy of being noted, too. Conclusion The purpose of this paper has been to read through Lesson 4, and carry out as many of the recommended activities as possible. Although the activities could not be carried out because of the fact that there was no organization to practice them on, they are well-documented for future use and are sure to come in handy. Reference Shiple, J. (2008). Information architecture tutorial. Webmonkey. Retrieved March 19, 2008, from http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/design/site_building/tutorials/tutorial1.html