Location, Path and Attribute Breadcrumbs

Three type of breadcrumbs on the web are defined, examples are given of each, and a set of research questions involving breadcrumbs are presented. Location breadcrumbs, the most common, show the single location of a page within a site. Path breadcrumbs, which are becoming more common with database-driven sites, show the particular path the user has taken within the site to the page. Attribute breadcrumbs are meta-information within the site that are represented in a breadcrumb-like fashion.

Instone, Keith. Instone.org (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability

An Open Discussion on Web Navigation  

What is navigation? • Central metaphor for the web • If they cannot find it, they cannot buy it • Conventions forming, but… • …It depends • Future: Will navigation be less or more important?

Instone, Keith. Instone.org (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability

Practicing Information Architecture

This is a collection of information from the 'Practicing Information Architecture' Special Interest Group meeting at CHI 2001.

Instone, Keith. Instone.org (2001). Design>Information Design>Web Design

Location, Path and Attribute Breadcrumbs

Research on breadcrumbs as presented at the 3rd Annual Information Architecture Summit. Three types of breadcrumbs used on the Web are defined, examples given, and a set of research questions is presented.

Instone, Keith. Instone.org (2004). Presentations>Web Design>Information Design

Faceted Browsing

Discover what "faceted browsing" is and other Web-focused terms for old ideas.

Instone, Keith. Instone.org (2004). Presentations>Web Design>Metadata

An Information Architecture Perspective on Personalization  

Information architecture is the structural design of shared information environments (AIfIA, 2003). In terms of e-commerce web sites, the information architecture encompasses the organization of the content and functionality, the labelling system and the navigational scheme (Rosenfeld & Morville, 2002). Users interact directly with the user interface of a web site: scanning a list of links and selecting one, clicking on an icon to add an item to their shopping cart, and filling out a form. Users also interact with the content directly: reading introductory text to determine what each category is about, studying product details descriptions and pictures to see if this is what they want to buy, and comparing specific product features. The information architecture is the “invisible” layer between the user interface and the content.

Instone, Keith. Instone.org (2004). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Personalization

Designing Personalized User Experiences for eCommerce: An Information Architecture Perspective  

You can think of the information architecture as the “glue” that holds a web site together - the part that hooks the content up with the user interface. It provides the large buckets to place products into and that users can browse by. It specifies the meta-information that ties pieces of content together and enables things like cross-selling.

Instone, Keith. Instone.org (2003). Articles>Web Design>Personalization>E Commerce

Information Architecture and Personalized User Experiences  

The information architect focuses on how things are structured within the user experience: looks “up” to the user interface – how the navigation and page layout convey the structure; looks “down” to the content management to make sure it can enable to right user experience.

Instone, Keith. Instone.org (2003). Presentations>Web Design>Information Design>Personalization