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Exact Schemes
Divides information into mutually exclusive groups
CategoryTimeLocationAlphabetContinuum
Category
Pertains to organization of good or services
Retail site often used this schemeDifferent models, types, or questionsEnforced by color
Time
Organize events which happened over fixed duration
CalendarTimeline
Location
Categorize and compare information which comes from different locales or sources
Multinational sitesMedical sites
Alphabet
DictionariesPhone booksyahoo.comWhen all else fails
Continuum
Organizes items by magnitude from small to large
Least expensive to most expensiveRanking of preferenceOrder of importants
Ambiguous Schemes
Divide information into categories which defy exact definition
Difficult to design and maintainDifficult to use
Ambiguous Schemes
Mired in language ambiguityExample: hit
To strike To touch Reach one’s goals A success (top 40’s) Baseball
Ambiguous Schemes
More usefulMore powerfulAllows for concept of “fuzzy”
Ambiguous Schemes
TopicalTask-orientedAudience specificMetaphor drivenHybrid schemes
Topical
Organizational method orders items by subject
Library of CongressTable of ContentsAcademic course listings
Task-oriented
Organizational scheme into collection of:
FunctionsServicesTasks
Audience specific
Useful when there are two or more audience types
Bank has links for:IndividualsSmall BusinessCorporations
Metaphor driven
Use a metaphor to organize contentInherents advantages/problems of
metaphors
Hybrid schemes
Combine multiple organizational schemes
Need clear separations or usability will suffer
Organizational Structures
Defines relationships among groups created by organizational scheme
Crucial to designImportant in web site design
Organizational Structures
HierarchyDatabase orientedHypertextForm basis for web site navigation
Organizational Structures Hierarchy
Structure according to rank or levelExamples:Family treeCorporate structureBooks
Organizational Structures Hierarchy
Advantages:Familiar Successively refined detailDisadvantages:True hierarchy requires backtracking
Organizational StructuresHierarchy
Organizational StructuresDatabase
Relational DatabaseBottom-up approachSearchableData-modeling can be time
consuming
Organizational StructuresDatabase
Organizational StructuresHypertext
Non-linear way of structuring information
Connected hierarchically, non-hierarchically or both.
FlexibleCan be very confusingWhere am I
Controlled Vocabulary
Web sites are collections of interconnected systems with complex dependencies
Meta-Data: data about dataDescribes an organization across
multiple terms
Controlled Vocabulary
Controlled Vocabulary: predetermined vocabulary of preferred terms that describes a particular domain
Simplest: list of equivalent termsComplex: Thesaurus
Controlled Vocabulary
Synonym Ring
Connected set of words which are defined as equivalent for purposes of retrieval
Authority File
List of preferred terms Acceptable values
Example:Postal codesCommon misspellings
Classification Schemes
Hierarchical arrangements of preferred terms
Also called a taxonomy
Thesaurus
Book of:SynonymsVariant termsRelated termsOpposite terms
Controlled VocabularyThesaurus Terms
Controlled VocabularyThesaurus Example
Card Sorting
Method of created a controlled vocabulary
Creates sets of objects and verbsQuick and cheapDraws out users organize topics
Card Sorting
Differing types:Open/ClosesPhrasingGranularityHeterogeneityCross-listing
Visual Organization
ProximityAlignmentContrastConsistency
Visual Organization
Appearance MattersEnforces content organizationAids navigationInfluenced by human perceptionRelated to Page Design
Proximity
Items close together are perceived as related
Group related items togetherSeparate unrelated items
Alignment
Takes advantage of continuity to make objects appeared grouped
Virtual linesText alignment
Contrast
Draws attention to items on pagePage with little contrast if hard to
read
Consistency
High degree of uniformity in layoutConsistency directly related to
usabilityConsistent site are much easier to
navigate
Consistency
Page Layout
Page Design
Related to visual organizationProvides balance between content
organization and visual layoutIncreases usability
Page Scanning
Page Size
Page Size
Top Of Page
Wireframe
Blueprint for site pageDescribes content and information
architectureCreated for site’s most important
pagesNot replacement for real visual
design
Wireframe
Wireframe (LowFi)
Wireframe (Med. Fi)
Wireframe (Hi Fi)
Page Layout
Page Layout