COMM 260 Lecture Synopsis Five

COMM 260, Principles of Internet Web-Based Design
Instructor: Ross Collins

Lecture Synopsis Five: Web site planning, architecture

After making decision concerning goals, audience and funding, a web design team turns its attention to the actual site architecture. Based on a site map, this plan is a chart indicating how the site should be put together and linked. Normally teams begin by finding content based on materials already available: brochures, flyers, newsletters, advertisements, booklets, magazines, speeches, etc. An inventory of content assets is established, and grouping of material is made based on site type: public site, extranet (public, but open to a group based on subscription) or intranet (private network). Webmasters consider needs of the site to be static (no user interaction), dynamic (material delivered depends on user's wishes) or interactive (user has opportunity to respond through bulletin boards or chat rooms).

Content is grouped normally by subject (a fishing site may include ice fishing, fly fishing, deep sea fishing, for example), by task (purchasing something) or by utility (images grouped, graphics grouped, etc.). Normally content is not grouped by company organizational chart.

Architecture may be set up in four basic ways: linear, grid, hierarchical tree, or pure web. Linear allows few linked choices, but resembles a PowerPoint slide show, typical of educational tutorials. Grid is linear horizontally and vertically, typical of catalog copy. Tree hierarchy uses "hub-and-spoke" design to include a home page and branches. Pure web includes a variety of links in and out of the site, but no hub.

"Full mesh" means every page is linked to every other page. It's usually not used, because it can get complicated quickly: a 100-page site will have 9,900 links. (My web site runs more than 700 pages. How many links would that be!?)

Webmasters need to consider narrow or wide architecture; narrow relates to the number of links a user must "drill down" to reach desired content. Wide relates to the number of links available on the home page. General rule is no more than 5-7 links clustered on a home page, and no more than 5-7 links clustered below each of these.

A porous site allows users to enter from most pages. A solid site allows entries only from a few selected pages, such as the home page. Porous is preferred by experienced users, but webmasters sometimes wish to control entry to a site.