Using Categories to Improve Search

The authors explore ways in which categories can be leveraged to improve search. An interface named SWISH is presented, in which search results are automatically categorized, and pages in the same category are grouped together.

Cutrell, Edward and Susan Dumais. Earthlink (2003). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Search

Using XML

XML is not just a pretty face, living in isolation from the rest of the computing world. XML is more than a rulebook for generating custom markup languages. It is part of a family of technologies, which, working together, make your XML-based documents very useful indeed.

Eisenberg, J. David. List Apart, A (2002). Design>Information Design>Web Design>XML

Visio - The Interaction Designer's Nail Gun

The reason why Visio is the favourite prototyping tool of many interaction designers is because of its ready-made interface objects, you can drag-and-drop onto pages and its ability to link pages together and export them as web pages. But what distinguishes Visio from other prototyping tools is its use of layered backgrounds.

Olsen, Henrik. GUUUI (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Interaction Design

Visual Vocabulary Three Years Later: An Interview with Jesse James Garrett

This interview focuses on Jesse James Garret's Visual Vocabulary, a site architecture documentation standard.

Brown, Dan. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Documentation>Information Design>Web Design

Weaving an Untangled Web: Proper Planning of Your Web Site Will Pay Off

Many people rush eagerly to start playing with the World Wide Web as if it were a new toy. But, unlike a shiny new bicycle, the Web does not come with easy-to-follow assembly instructions: you can easily end up riding backwards down an extremely busy road. To make effective use of a Web site, you need to create your own assembly instructions—a well thought-out plan that positions your Web site as simply another tool in your overall communications or marketing strategy.

Collins, John. Writer's Block (1996). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Web "Microformats"

Microformats is a term used to describe the storage of information using simple markup variations within existing markup languages. To a certain extent, microformats describes a methodology or philosophy, and comprises a set of design principles. Microformats is not a new language. It is usually a permutation of XHTML. The philosophy of microformats involves storing data in human-readable formats which are also machine-readable, but the emphasis is on the humans! Information tends to be visible, rather than hidden metadata.

Self, Tony. HyperWrite (2004). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>XHTML

Web Design: Navigation

The design of an appropriate and 'easy-to-use' navigation scheme is essential.

Dianthus. Design>Web Design>Information Design

Web Indexing

Much like the well-known back-of-the-book index, web indexes help users find information using a variety of keywords and gathering similar information under a single topic. Instead of page numbers, web indexes are hypertext-linked directly to the content with in the web site itself. Web indexes work particularly well in sites that have a flat structure with only one or two levels of hierarchy.

Brown, Fred. Allegro Time!. Design>Web Design>Information Design

Web Navigation: Resolving Conflicts between the Desktop and the Web

This paper summarizes a workshop at CHI98 that focused on navigational problems caused by differences in navigational models between the desktop and the Web. The goal of this workshop was to identify usability problems encountered when users move from the 'traditional' desktop to the Web and to identify ways to minimize transfer-learning problems between the two platforms.Workshop papers will soon be available online.

Fellenz, Carola, Jarmo Parkkinen and Hal Shubin. ACM SIGCHI (1998). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Usability

Web Rings as Computer-Mediated Communication

As recently as 1994, academic journals such as Communication Education were continuing to define 'computer-mediated communication' as a decidedly dialogic or conversational phenomenon. Focusing on such technologies as electronic bulletin boards, the Usenet and email, the journal's articles attempted to come to grips with the 'virtual' dimension of text-based, computerized communication. Four short years later, the Internet has become a much more complex, commercialized, politicized and increasingly networked environment, to the extent that web-based resources--particularly home page addresses-- have become fully integrated and hypertextually linked into 'traditional' CMC dialogic technologies. The widespread use of email and usenet interfaces from Netscape and Microsoft, for instance, have enabled the linking of web addresses within the body of posts. In addition to conversing one-on one, users now increasingly refer, via an automated link, to web-based resources. Granted, users don't communicate with each o

Elmer, Greg. Computer-Mediated Communication (1999). Articles>Information Design>Web Design

La Web Semántica, Hoy

Hace casi tres años comentábamos que la promesa de la web semántica era convertir la red en 'un espacio auto-navegable y auto-comprensible.' ¿Dónde estamos hoy en día?.

Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2003). (Spanish) Articles>Information Design>Web Design>Metadata

Web Site Architecture 101

Outlines three easy steps for determining the information architecture or navigation scheme of a site on which you are working.

Limeback, Rudy. evolt (1999). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Web Site Maps from Dynamic Diagrams

The Web site map is one of the key tools that site designers can provide to help surfers successfully navigate through their site. However, the art and science of creating intuitive and useful Web site maps is still in its infancy.

Mappa Mundi (2000). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Sitemaps

Web Site Navigation

Once a visitor gets to your web site, you want to make sure they can find what they are looking for quickly and easily, or they will just go elsewhere. If a web site is easy to use and understand, visitors will come back time and time again.

Pires, Halstatt. Ezine Articles (2005). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Web Site Planning

Taking the time to plan a Web site is crucial for the success of the project.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (1998). Design>Web Design>Information Design>User Centered Design

Web Site Sections: Art and Practice

On a Web site with very few pages -- as in a small art gallery -- what you see as you enter can reveal all you need to know to successfully navigate the space. If the home page acts as a front door, then it can display hypertext links to all or most of the pages (up to 10, say) on a small site. Web sites have a way of growing larger, though, and not many sites stay under 10 pages for long. If visitors can't see everything from the front door, how will they know what you have to offer? How will they find what they're looking for?

McAdams, Mindy. Editorial Eye, The (1998). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Web Sites and Buildings

A good way to get insight into the complexity of web design is to compare it to more familiar design disciplines. Like web sites, buildings are designed to support a wide range of experiences, which involves design from the high-level architecture to signage and interior furnishings.

Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2005). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Web Spinning: Developing Information Architecture and Content for the Web

This course will help you understand the process for developing the architecture and writing the content for informational websites. Proceeding from a rhetorical standpoint that emphasizes audience, purpose, and context, you will investigate and apply recent audience research, proven usability principles, and traditional design guidelines to critique as well as to design effective websites.

Lippincott, Gail. University of North Texas (2003). Academic>Courses>Information Design>Web Design

Web Weaving: Effectively Mapping and Designing a Web Site  

Web sites are becoming an essential business tool. Properly planning a web site to meet the needs of the audience is the best way to accomplish your business objectives. This presentation focuses on planning Web sites tailored to any audience’s needs. Organizing Web sites involves many technical communication skills that are often overlooked. Poorly planned web pages make it dificultfor the viewer to interface with the information presented. Technical communicators with knowledge of Web page design willfind the web weaving process helpful in publishing highly-functional web sites for their employers; demonstrating their value added, saving them time, resources and expense.

Smith, Charlsye J. STC Proceedings (1997). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Website Navigation is Useful

Although users tend to navigate websites by search mechanisms or by links embedded in actual content, website navigation serves useful purposes.

Baker, Adam. Merges.net (2001). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Usability

WebTOC: Evaluation of a Hierarchical Browsing Interface for the World Wide Web

With the rapid growth of the World Wide Web and the development of hierarchical web sites, it has become difficult for users to get an overview of the contents and structure of web sites because of their growing size and complexity. To alleviate this problem, an application called WebTOC was developed at the Human Computer Interaction Lab(HCIL) at the University of Maryland. This application provides a graphical description of the hierarchy of a web site and gives a breakdown of the types of data available at the site (text, video, audio, etc.). The paper presents a study comparing WebTOC with a textual table of contents and no contents page. This experiment found no statistically significant differences between interfaces, but we suspect the main factor in this result is the limited availability of subjects (21 subjects altogether - only seven subjects were tested per treatment). The subjective satisfaction surveys showed a preference for WebTOC. This paper presents a number of lessons learned and makes several recommendations for further study of WebTOC.

Heflin, Jeff, Anita Komlodi, Nakul Pasricha and Theen-Theen Tan. SHORE (1997). Design>Web Design>Information Design

What I Hope Will Be

Libraries and librarians can create the kinds of compelling services that will bring our users back. We can't expect a brighter future unless we work hard for it.

Tennant, Roy. Library Journal (2006). Articles>Information Design>Web Design

What Is Information Design, and How Does It Relate to the Web?  

Most of the time-tested rules for designing information apply to information intended for the Web. However, this new media requires the combined skills of three individuals: content specialist, graphic specialist, and Web engineer. Each plays a different, but critical role. A Web specification can be the means for bringing it all together.

Bidondo, Jerry, Kari Kelly and Tom Vail. STC Proceedings (1998). Design>Information Design>Wireless Web