How to Make a Faceted Classification and Put It On the Web

Describes when to use faceted classification on web sites and provides instruction for creating a faceted classification system.

Denton, William. William Denton (2003). Articles>Information Design>Web Design

How to Make Wireless Directory Services Useful

Wireless directory services need to recognize both the limitations and the benefits of mobile phones, by making search results more to-the-point and context-sensitive.

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

How to Share Everything with Everyone (well, a few things anyway)

We're moving toward a shared network model, where people publish and subscribe. The really appealing sites integrate feeds for a community of users in an invisible, seamless way, making it easy to see what we're all up to.

Johnson, Tom H. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>RSS

HTML, XHTML, Semantics and the Future of the Web

Clarifies exactly what XHTML is, explains why you need to be learning about it from today, and steps through the process of transitioning to the standards based way of marking up for the web, and beyond.

Allsopp, John. Western Civilization (2005). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>XHTML

IA再考

2001年のIAサミットを境にIAの理論と実践についてIAコミュニティでかつてない議論が起こりました。この6つの章からなるエッセイは、IAの今までとそしてこれからどこへ向かっていくべきなのか論争に終止符を打つべくJJGが書き上げた渾身のエッセイです。

Garrett, Jesse James. AIfIA (2002). (Japanese) Design>Information Design>Web Design

Improving Usability with a Website Index

Indexes are important information-finding tools that can enhance usability. Site indexes provide direct, easily scannable links to meaningful, yet highly granular, chunks of content. But there’s more to them than people often assume.

Leise, Fred. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design

In Search of Salience: A Response-Time and Eye-Movement Analysis of Bookmark Recognition

Describes the effect of bookmark naming on bookmark recognition. The purpose is to provide empirically-determined guidelines for web producers on how to title pages in order to optimise the recognition of bookmarks by users, and increase the rate of revisitation to their websites.

Poole, Alex. Alex Poole (2005). Articles>Information Design>Usability>Web Browsers

Indexing Web Pages: Maybe Books Aren't Such a Bad Model After All!

One of our favorite cliches is that you can't use the printed book as a model for online information. Web-based information, which is following the same evolutionary progress as online help systems, has inherited this 'books are bad' philosophy. However, any statement we've begun to take for granted bears some re-examination, because unquestioningly accepting dogma undermines our efforts to improve communication.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1999). Articles>Information Design>Indexing>Web Design

Influence of Training and Exposure on the Usage of Breadcrumb Navigation

Recent studies have shown that while the use of breadcrumb trails to navigate a website can be helpful, few users choose to utilize this method of navigation. This study investigates the effects of 'mere exposure' and training on breadcrumb usage. Findings indicate that brief training on the benefits of breadcrumb usage resulted in more efficient search behavior.

Hull, Spring S. Usability News (2004). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Usability

Information Architecture: On the Web, In Help, and In Print  

Today, a decade into an explosion of Internet-based communication, the web is like a vast and confusing hall of mirrors. It’s full of links to other links, graphic design that distorts rather than illuminates information, whizbang features, silly eye-candy, and dead-ends  all of which impede the progress of people searching for information.

Sisler, Paul, John Moreau and Catherine M. Titta. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Information Design>Web Design

Information Architecture Tutorial

Information architecture is the science of figuring out what you want your site to do and then constructing a blueprint before you dive in and put the thing together. It's more important than you might think, and John Shiple tells you why.

Shiple, John. Webmonkey (1999). Design>Information Design>Web Design

Information Architecture: Where Does It Fit?

It seemed five years ago that 'information architect' was becoming a popular, fancy name for tech writer. Have all of the information architects of the late '90s morphed into usability specialists with a special emphasis on the Web? Or have they gone back to being 'learning products engineers' and 'technical writers'?

Lizak, Samantha. STC Williamette Valley (2004). Careers>Information Design>Web Design

Review: Information Dashboard Design

Stephen Few's Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data defines the state-of-the-art of information dashboard design. Few, who is an expert in data visualization for the communication and analysis of quantitative business information has provided a complete, practical, and illuminating guide to dashboard design. If you are designing front-ends for executive information systems for Business Performance Management (BPM) or for monitoring and analyzing the performance of sales, marketing, or information systems, Information Dashboard Design provides all you need to know to ensure your dashboards communicate efficiently and effectively.

Gabriel-Petit, Pabini. UXmatters (2007). Articles>Reviews>Information Design>Web Design

Information Design for the Small-Screen Interface: An Overview of Web Design Issues for Personal Digital Assistants    

If the experts are on the mark, very soon handheld computer technology—--also known as the personal digital assistants (PDA)—--will supplant the desktop computer as ubiquitous technology on campuses and in the workplace (Weiser 1998; Chen 1999). In 1998, Gaston Bastien, vice president and general manager for the Personal Interactive Electronics Division of Apple Computer, noted that the handheld computer market 'could potentially grow larger than today's computer industry,' partly because of the capability of dynamic, modular design, and partly because its utility spills over to diverse communities of users. In 2001, Gartner Research (Bloomberg News 2001) predicted a 260% increase in unit sales, from 9.39 million units in 2000, to 33.7 million units in 2004.

Albers, Michael J. and Loel Kim. Technical Communication Online (2002). Design>Information Design>Web Design>User Interface

Information Design for Web Sites Which Support Complex Decision Making  

Most web site designs tend to focus on optimizing for simple information retrieval, “Find the value of X.” Yet, in decision making, the user’s information needs are much greater. As a minimum, they must understand and compare the value of X with respect to Y. Of course, in a realistic situation, several values must be considered. The information design problems involved in effectively addressing complex decision making has not been adequately researched. This research examines web sites to determine which design factors support complex decision making. It also develops guidelines for designing web sites which support complex decision making.

Albers, Michael J. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Information Design>Web Design

Information Models for Web Structure

All destinations on the World Wide Web are constructed from information. Yet, these destinations seem to be physical, and, as a result, must be structured to help users locate and navigate the information in an intuitive way. Imaginary maps called information models represent the varying ways in which information can be structured.

Watson, James. Writer's Block (1998). Design>Information Design>Web Design

Interaction Design Sessions

This article covers the design stage that marks the next step in the design process after site visits have been conducted and evaluated: It describes the process of successively deriving an interaction design from the data. The following article describes the creating of an interaction design - one of the most important steps involved in the creation of a user-oriented application system. This step is taken directly after the collection and analysis of data in working practice, gathered during site visits. The user interaction design is derived from this data successively.

Fuss, Margarete. SAP Design Guild (2002). Design>Information Design>Interaction Design>Web Design

Introduction to Information Architecture

Information Architect: 1) the individual who organizes the patterns inherent in data, making the complex clear; 2) a person who creates the structure or map of information which allows others to find their personal paths to knowledge; 3) the emerging 21st century professional occupation addressing the needs of the age focused upon clarity, human understanding and the science of the organization of information.

Rosenfeld, Louis and Peter Morville. O'Reilly and Associates (1998). Design>Information Design>Web Design

Issues of Saliency and Recognition in the Search for Web Page Bookmarks

Describes the effect of bookmark naming on bookmark recognition. The purpose was to provide empirically-determined guidelines for web producers on how to title pages in order to optimise the recognition of bookmarks by users, and to increase the rate of revisitation as a result.

Poole, Alex. Alex Poole (2005). Books>Information Design>Usability>Web Browsers

La Importancia de Definir una Metodología Para Diseños y Rediseños de Sedes Web

En los últimos años la tendencia en el desarrollo de sitios y negocios virtuales ha proliferado incontrolablemente, en la mayoría de casos sin una adecuada sistematización de sus procesos, lo que a corto o medio plazo le significa a la empresa gastos más elevados que la solución inicial. Por esta razón es necesario ser metódicos desde un principio.

Logrono, Luis A. Herrera. Nosolousabilidad.com (2003). (Spanish) Design>Web Design>Information Design

Layman's Guide to Web Syndication

Syndication has taken the web industry by storm. It's used everywhere. Talk to a web developer and they'll tell you they've been using it for years. But, as with a lot of things geek, those on the cutting-edge often forget to tell others how to use the new technology.

Mercurytide (2006). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>RSS

The Lazy IA's Guide to Making Sitemaps

Sitemaps are common deliverables, desired by clients who want a visual representation of a site. Since they are rarely used to make decisions, information architects may not consider them the valuable tools they are. The effort required to make and maintain them requires time that might be better used elsewhere. In fact, I would suggest that making sure the little boxes line up is a waste of an IA's mental abilities.

Turbek, Stephen. Boxes and Arrows (2006). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Sitemaps

Learning from the "Powers of Ten"

To most designers, the Eames name brings to mind rows and rows of molded plywood chairs and Herman Miller furniture of the 1950s. But the Eameses were more than just designers of furniture; they were masters of exploration and experimentation into the realm of experience.

Malone, Erin. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Humor>Web Design>Information Design

Liquid Web Design

Glenn Davis once said, 'Webpage building is a lot like bar tending. Build it right and it will work no matter what the container.' I think he was either very drunk when he said that or really on to something. Some people consider the web to be an information resource while others swear up and down that it's a form of entertainment. Web interface design has taken a giant leap in the past few years from the all-too-haunting gray backgrounds and bulleted lists to colorful interactive interfaces and eye-candy. A good web designer knows how to blend just the right amount of interface with information, so that it appears seamless and the navigation almost transparent to the end user. This is where Davis's idea of liquid design comes into play. Through his years of web development, he has come to a conclusion that there are three elements of interface on the web today: those that are Liquid, Jell-O, and Ice.

Finck, Nick. Digital Web Magazine (1999). Design>Information Design>Web Design

Make it Mobile

Handheld devices are everywhere. How can you start delivering Web content that can be viewed on these devices? This article discusses the challenges of writing for these devices, what specific issues are involved. Also included in this discussion is a case study of one organization going mobile and the challenges it faces.

Rose, Emma. EServer (2001). Design>Information Design>Wireless Web