why make a web index when you have a site map?

EnhancingOnline Wayfinding

@ Simmons The GLSIS website index project

by Fran Keenan

index vs. site map vs. A-Z vs. search????????

web indexing issues1. Indexes have not become a web convention.

2. Web indexes have only one locator per term unlike book index

3. Users at times want to do something/perform a task not just find information.

4. Page titles are not index terms.

5. Navigation pages do not need indexing.

GSLIS indexing issues

1. Site within a site

2. Site has multiple audiences

3. Primary site audience is not current students

4. Site is very text-heavy

5. Many non substantive pages

6. Webmaster has limited authority to update and make changes

“maps” to nowhere

Mirrors site architecture.Not in alphabetical order.More like TOC than index.

imposter index

Alphabetical order (A-Z).Browsing is disorienting.Uses page names as terms.No subject analysis.Few if any synonyms or xrefs.

True index

Alphabetical order and browse-able.Index terms from subject analysis.Like topics grouped.Synonyms & xrefs & glosses.

Discoveries• No GSLIS homepage except

GSLIS admissions homepage• Job blog vs. New England JobLine • Dead ends and duplicate info

Abiding questions…• Will people find and use the GSLIS index?• Will it get updated?

Footprint image source: G. F. Warren, Elements of Agriculture (London, MacMillan and Co., Ltd., 1913)86Copyright: 2009, Florida Center for Instructional Technology.