Site Map

How should the documents on the course or website be categorized?

One of the first considerations in designing a course or website should be to prepare a definition of "what the site will actually be, and how it will work".

Your course or website might be having great information, but if that information is not logically organized it will be very difficult for your visitors to access it.

Before we start your site design, we need to formulate the course or website a structure.

If you’re not really sure how to begin planning the structure and navigation of your course or website, we have years of experience in information architecture.

Information Architecture

Before we can start to plan your navigation, we need to define your site's information architecture, which is the taxonomy, or structure that details the information categories, relationships, and the navigation structure of your course or website.

  • Clarify the mission and vision for the site, balancing the needs of its sponsoring organization and the needs of its audiences.
  • Determine what content and functionality the site will contain.
  • Specify how users will find information in the site by defining its organization, navigation, labeling, and searching systems.
  • Map out how the site will accommodate change and growth over time.

Sitemaps are a visual representation like a flow chart of a site. After taking an inventory of your final content for the site, you will get a clear picture of what you have in relation to your project goals, and then determine any missing pieces or additional content you need to create.

The structure of the site must be locked down before anything can be created. Site Maps support the content and become the blueprint for the site and its menu and navigation system.