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SECTION II. CONTENT ORGANIZATION/SITE ARCHITECTURE
A. Process for Organization
STANDARD:
Content on each institutional site should be organized with reference to the audience– that is, to the user's needs and interests - which may or may not correspond to the internal organization and division of responsibilities within the department/office.
Recommended Process:
- STEP ONE: Define your audience very clearly. Do your users include students, faculty, staff, community, professional groups, businesses, organizations? Within UWRF, are there other departments, offices, or groups who will use your site? Do you have internal (intranet) users, external (Internet) users, or both? How will they use your site?
- STEP TWO: Gather all your content and develop a clear outline of logical groupings (from the point of view of the types of users) before starting a design. Write a description of the site, indicating its purpose, goals, major topics, method of dividing the content, and how that method serves your users and your goals.
- STEP THREE: Once the content is reviewed and revamped and the overall purpose of the site is defined, a site architecture (see example, next page) can be developed and used as the basis for a site design.
Develop a hierarchical organization of your content, moving from broader categories on the top page to more detailed categories and content on secondary and subsequent pages. As a rule of thumb, users should be able to reach any specific content on your site within four clicks; however, the logic and ease of following the path is more important than the number of clicks it takes to get to the information.
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