Links on Information Architecture

In Defense of Lorem Ipsum

If you’re running a project where you mock up designs, get them approved, code them up, build a CMS, hook it all together, and then everyone looks around and says “Who’s got the content? Wait, this content doesn’t match the designs and it won’t fit in the CMS!” then you have a problem. A big problem.

Lorem Ipsum is not the cause of your problem. It’s a symptom. The real problem is an overall process that treats design and content as separate tracks without appropriate communication, collaboration, and checkpoints along the way.

In Defense of Lorem Ipsum

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Wireframes Magazine

Wireframes Magazine is a collection of UI design techniques and samples by interaction designers and information architects across the globe.

Wireframes Magazine

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Fresh vs. Familiar: How Aggressively to Redesign

Summary
Users hate change, so it’s usually best to stay with a familiar design and evolve it gradually. In the long run, however, incrementalism eventually destroys cohesiveness, calling for a new UI architecture.
Fresh vs. Familiar: How Aggressively to Redesign

Posted in Information Architecture, Interaction Design, User Experience | Tagged | Post a comment.

I ♥ (heart) wireframes

I heart wireframes is a collection of user contributed wireframes.

I ♥ wireframes

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Using Closed Card-Sorting to Evaluate Information Architectures

Abstract
A technique using closed card-sorting to evaluate candidate information architectures for a web site is described. Participants in an online card-sorting study are randomly directed to one of the architectures being evaluated. Each participant is shown the same cards but different categories to sort them into.

The basic data collected is simply which cards each user put into which groups. For any one architecture being tested, the data show what percentage of the participants put each card into each group. A better architecture is one where the participants were more consistent with each other in terms of which groups they put each of the cards into. The basic ’score’ proposed for each card is the percentage associated with the ‘winning’ group (i.e., the group with the highest percentage)—the higher that percentage is, the better. A consistency score for each architecture tested can then be calculated by taking an average of these percentages across all the cards. A technique for correcting this score when the different architectures have different numbers of groups is also described.

Using Closed Card-Sorting to Evaluate Information Architectures (PDF, 86 kb)

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Choosing the Right Search Results Page Layout: Make the Most of Your Width

Page layout forms the foundation in presenting search results. Your layout decisions for search results pages will have tremendous impact on the user experience for your entire site. Choosing the right width for search results is important, and the optimal width for search results may be a great deal narrower than some people using big monitors would believe.

Choosing the Right Search Results Page Layout: Make the Most of Your Width

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Card Sorting: Pushing Users Beyond Terminology Matches

Summary
It’s easy to bias study participants, whether in user testing or in card sorting, if they focus on matching stimulus words instead of working on the underlying problem.

Card Sorting: Pushing Users Beyond Terminology Matches

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Information Architecture 101: A crash course for the enterprise architect

Summary
What is information architecture? What roles do information architects play in the enterprise space? Are information architects content experts, usability experts, database administrators (DBAs), Extensible Markup Language (XML) analysts? Or all of the above? How can understanding the concepts behind information architecture help your enterprise project succeed? Take this crash course on information architecture to find out.

Information Architecture 101: A crash course for the enterprise architect- Almost everything you ever wanted to know about information architecture

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The Five laws of library science

S. R. Ranganathan, known as the “the father of library science in India”, and respected by librarians all over the world, proposed five laws of library science. Many librarians worldwide accept them as the foundations of their philosophy (e.g. Koehler et al., 2000)
These laws are:

  1. Books are for use.
  2. Every reader his [or her] book.
  3. Every book its reader.
  4. Save the time of the User.
  5. The library is a growing organism.

The Five Laws of Library Science are some of the most influential concepts in that field. Since they were published in 1931, these five laws “have remained a centerpiece of professional values…” (Rubin 2004). These basic theories of Library Science continue to directly affect the development of this discipline and the service of all libraries.

The Five laws of library science

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Types of Breadcrumbs- Location, Path & Attribute

Three type of breadcrumbs on the web are defined, examples are given of each, and a set of research questions involving breadcrumbs are presented. Location breadcrumbs, the most common, show the single location of a page within a site. Path breadcrumbs, which are becoming more common with database-driven sites, show the particular path the user has taken within the site to the page.
Attribute breadcrumbs are meta-information within the site that are represented in a breadcrumb-like fashion.

Location, Path & Attribute Breadcrumbs

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