Practical Information Architecture: A Hands-On Approach to Structuring Successful Websites - Softcover

Reiss, Eric L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0201725908 ISBN 13: 9780201725902

Publisher: AddisonWesley Professional, 2000

Synopsis

A stepbystep guide to explain the process of creating an underlying structure for a web site. Topics covered include: Setting and achieving website goals; translating the site's goals into meaningful content; organizing the content so that visitors can find what they're looking for.

About this title

From the Author

On-line success doesn't happen by accident!

I wrote this book for people who have a direct influence on the content and structure of a website - sites created for their personal use, for their employer, or for a client organization. Although the market abounds with books on HTML programming and graphic design, very little exists to tell people how to create a "flow chart" for their website - one that helps define and arrange the site's content so visitors can quickly and easily find what they're looking for. Although this isn't a particularly glamorous subject, information architecture is often the single most important step in the creation of a successful website.

As far as possible, I've tried to put together a nuts-and-bolts, hands-on guide to the subject. I've been using and refining the techniques I describe since the late 70s and have been involved in the creation of interactive media on a daily basis since the late 80s - from primitive menu-based DOS applications to the latest in glitzy e commerce sites.

It may come as a surprise, but the problems I've faced over the years have not changed very much, even though the individual programs and interfaces have. That's because the issues of information architecture are generic in nature and are thus largely unrelated to technological advances. A simple analogy: safer cars may keep us from getting killed on the highway, but they don't make us better drivers.

I'm not a theoretician. I'm not a programmer. I'm not a hot-shot designer. Rather, I'm a content provider who, like those I'm addressing, has to solve here-and-now problems that are directly related to the usability and ultimate acceptance/success of a website. This book explains how I think and how I work - my tricks of the trade.

About the Author

Eric Reiss has been actively involved in the creation of multimedia and web projects for over a decade. Following a long career as a senior copywriter for one of Europe's leading businesstobusiness advertising agencies, he now heads The FatDUX Group (fatdux.com), which provides specialized business services for online and offline ventures. A Texan by birth, Mr. Reiss has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark since 1976.

0201725908AB04062001

Edition details

• Publisher: AddisonWesley Professional
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0201725908
• ISBN 13: 9780201725902
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208