Information Architecture Essentials

1. Information Architecture Essentials Rafael Perez

2. Welcome to Houston SharePoint Saturday Please turn off all electronic devices or set them to vibrate. If you must take a phone call, please do so in the hall so as not to disturb others. Thanks to our Platinum Sponsors:

3. About Myself I consider myself a dynamic figure Can often be found scaling walls and crushing ice I can cook 30 minute brownies in 20 minutes I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees I always know when to dispose my SPSite and SPWeb objects I write award-winning operas I woo women with my sensuous and god-like trombone playing. I develop master pages and page layouts from my iPhone on my lunch breaks. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love and an outlaw in Peru. I manage time efficiently I can produce Obfuscated code without an Obfuscator I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie My SharePoint implementations effectively govern themselves I don't perspire, I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. Children trust me I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy My code never has any memory leaks I play bluegrass cello...I am the subject of numerous documentaries I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami Years ago, I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis Most of these statements where taken from an essay written by Hugh Gallagher, an Author from New York, to NYU.

4. About myself

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6. What is Information Architecture?

7. Simplified and with Purpose

8. Findability Wikipedia defines Findability as: The ability of users to identify an appropriate website and navigate the pages of the site to discover and retrieve relevant information resources. Findability refers to the quality of being locatable or navigable

9. The right tools for the job

10. Our users will rely on skills not tools Wayfinding: Encompasses all of the ways in which people and animals orient themselves and navigate from place to place.

11. Real world examples Architects and Urban Regional Planners rely on Wayfinding: Malls Airports Theme Parks

12. Real world examples, cont.. Wide streets and corridors that let lots of people through but also tell them the path to stay on. Small corridors and tucked away (though clearly labeled) doors provide access to employee only areas Large signs that clearly tell people where they are or where they need to go

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14. A good Information Architecture A good Information Architecture will tell the user the following: Where they are Where the things they are looking for are How to get to the things they are looking for Where they have already looked

15. Show visitors where they are Breadcrumbs and other Visual Indicators Logos Clear Titles / Headers

16. Show People where they are

17. Show them what they are looking for Start by asking yourself: What are they looking for? Followed by: What do I want them to get to? Keep those things in front of your sites users by including them in your Global Navigation

19. Show them how to get there Use intelligent navigation (more to come) Make sure your links look like links Don’t sacrifice usability for visual appeal Group similar items together

20. Show them where they have been Whatever happened to the visited link? Nobody likes to feel lost Feeling like you are going in circles can be very frustrating Again: Don’t sacrifice usability for visual appeal

21. Tips, Best Practices, and Common Sense You are not just implementing SharePoint You are implementing a solution to address a specific need or problem Likely in one or more of these areas Don’t plan to do it all at once

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23. The customer always comes first Your users are your customers The whole purpose of our website revolves around our users You don’t want to hear complaints about user adoption?… Then don’t neglect the user Make your design user-centric START WITH THE USER

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25. User Centric Design in Five simple steps Discover who the target user is Talk to the target user Design the site for the target user Test a prototype with the target user Test the final site with the target user

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27. Understand your content To effectively organize / categorize the information in your site. You can do one of two things: Become an expert on the information Work with people who are already experts(Who better than your users?)

28. Content Categorization Before you get started, understand: You are not organizing information for yourself Choices and implications are not trivial It wont necessarily be easy or fast Try to keep it fun

29. Categorization Workshops Start with a simple task: Ask your users to write specific examples of the types of files and information that they work with; create, modify, refer to; into cards. Not categories, but specific examples: The list goes on and on.

30. Categorization Workshops, cont.. Divide the group of users into smaller groups Pile up the cards and make several copies; one for each group Have each group dump their pile into the floor or a table and create stacks of similar items Finally, have them name each pile.

31. Categorization Workshops, cont.. Compare how each group organized each pile What choices where made? Where they all the same? (doubtful) Where there any special or repeated categories? Top categories Sub categories Is there more than 1 piece of content in each category? Is one of the stacks too big? Document your findings and create your organizational scheme

32. Card Sorting

33. Tips to watch out for Don’t expect it to be perfect You will be able to adjust over time Some users may decide to organize by region first, others may decide to organize by company or department first. Both are right! Don’t be fooled by the physical limitations of the exercise, which may not apply in the system. In SharePoint, things really can be in two places at once

34. Types of Metadata Intrinsic: What it is? Is it a Word file, PDF file, a JPEG, 20Kb, etc. Administrative: Who, When, Where, Why? Author, Expiration Date, Last modified by, Department, Region Descriptive Color, dimensions Subjective: Cool content, ratings

35. Managed Metadata Managed Terms: Controlled Vocabulary Terms: A word or a phrase that can be associated with an item in SharePoint Server 2010 Term Sets: A logical grouping of terms Example: Region(Term Set) North America South America Central America Managed Keywords: User specified, folksonomy, tags

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37. Building a Controlled Vocabulary Create a Content Inventory Don’t just rely on information from the Categorization Workshops Look at other sources: File shares, existing sites, public folders (Content that you are likely to migrate first) Use the opportunity to look for duplicates, expired content, usefulness, etc. Gather terms from as many sources as possible Start with the content (pick terms unique to the content itself) Interview Subject Matter Experts

38. Building a Controlled Vocabulary, cont.. Defined Preferred Terms United States vs. USA Link synonyms and near synonyms Group Preferred Terms and Term Sets by Subject Geography (Might contain Term Sets for Region and Country) Identify broader and narrower terms Maybe product is a subset of company, maybe multiple companies sell similar or the same products.

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40. Storytelling Think of it as building a story Refer back to your research to identify the characters of the story (your users) Think about the tasks they are setting out to accomplish Build Personas* and Scenarios Reminiscent of Actors and Use Cases

41. Playing pretend - Building Personas Refer back to your research and for each user create a report that includes: Their Goals Frustration Points and Gripes Rate their technical know-how (entry level – expert, or 1-5) Experience with competitor products Expectations Wish Lists Identify Primary, Secondary, Complimentary Personas Name your personas Don’t use real people pretend they are real people

42. Playing Pretend – Building Scenarios Identify the primary tasks each persona will set out to accomplish Write a scenario describing how each persona would accomplish their given tasks Build the ideal experience Don’t include interface decisions (links, buttons, etc.) Keep it vague, don’t get caught up in the details Build the story of how the persona uses the site, not how the site handles the user

43. Sample Scenario

44. What the Scenarios should do Provide a clear list of Features Do’s and Don’ts Do provide several (First Name, Last Name, etc.) Do include pictures Don’t expect users to drill down through the organizational hierarchy Serve as the foundation for your Site Path Diagram

45. Sitepath Diagraming Should visually describe the following Who will the users be What activities will they accomplish Determine Site Flow Reveal where user scenarios overlap Develop fewer features retaining the same functionality Helps identify pages / page types we need Starts laying the ground work for the navigation

46. Sitepath Diagraming

47. From Activities to Pages Plan on designating a page (or type of page) for each activity Each page (or type) should help the user accomplish a specific task Each page should include links to related or follow-up activities

48. Common Types of Pages Navigation Pages – These pages exist to send the user somewhere else; home pages, search results, list of documents, list of contacts. Design these pages so they are easy to leave Links should look like links It should be clear where the user is going and where he has been Clear labels on links Include excerpts/descriptions in search results All content should be minimal

49. Common Types of Pages, cont.. Consumption Pages – These are generally the “somewhere else”; news, documents, tutorials, blog posts Do not include elements that may distract the user from the content Make the content easy to consume Example: Thin paragraphs are easier to read

50. Common Types of Pages, cont.. Interaction Pages – These are pages where users do more than consume and navigate; they type, press buttons, select items from drop-down lists; they interact. Many are automatically handled by SharePoint Document Libraries, Lists, Edit Items, Add User, etc. Some are much more complex than others Search Page (for the masses) Excel Services Page (for users with a specific skillset) When building your own, take the primary user into consideration and try to make it easy for them.

51. Pages for Activities Match each discrete task in each activity to a specific type of page.

52. From Pages to Sites Before we can begin defining our sites Understand what a Site means in SharePoint How does it relate to the Site Collection? What does a Site Collection Provide? Security Implications User Roles (Visitors, Authors/Contributors, Owners) Inherit from parent by default Can break inheritance, but groups will still be managed at Site Collection Level (Administrative Implications) Shared Content Database with other sites Things you Cannot Implement Quotas and Content Retention / Expiration Policies No second stage Recycle Bin

53. From Pages to Sites, cont.. Group related pages / content together into sites. Pages that share similar attributes (particularly attributes defined at the Site level) List, Library, and Item Level Permissions are nice, but avoid using them if you can.. Keep things simple Does Recruiting need a Library or Site under HR Try to be consistent with your design, but understand that there will be exceptions

54. From Sites to Site Collections Before you begin you need to understand what defines a Site Collection in SharePoint

55. From Sites to Site Collections, cont.. Group related / similar Sites into Site Collections Sites that share similar attributes (particularly attributes defined at the Site Collection level) Consider the amount of content you might expect any site to have Will it need its own Content Database? Will you need to implement quotas and locks Whenever possible try to keep the security groups at the Site Collection Level Easier to manage security and delegate support Consider the lifecycle of the content / site Does it call for expiration policies (Project Sites)

56. Common Scenarios Portal (Site Collection) Corporate (Site) IT (Site) Help Desk (Page) App Dev (Page) HR (Site) Recruiting (Page) Employee Benefits (Page) Company X (Site*) News (Site) Search (Site)

57. Structural Navigation Structural Navigation Represents your content hierarchy Usually takes the form of Global Navigation and Local Navigation Global Navigation: Provides easy access to the most important content hubs Local Navigation: Takes you to the levels of the hierarchy that are near to where you are

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59. Structural Navigation Models Crabwalking – Users can move in a sideways fashion through the navigation. Top and Sibling Categories always available

60. Structural Navigation Models, cont.. Pogosticking - With this model users click on a navigational element and arrive in a section / site with a completely different navigation. More prominent in scenarios where users are going to perform very specific activities and not browse around. Project Sites Team Sites

61. Deciding on a Navigation Model Structural - Crabcrawling Scenarios where users have a few minutes to kill before the next meeting and want to learn more about the company, department, etc. Scenarios where users are looking for (and expect to find) information on a specific subject that may span across multiple pages / sites. Portal Publishing Sites Sub-Team Sites Structural – Pogosticking Scenarios where users are looking or will work with specific information that is limited to that site. Project Sites Top Level Team Sites

62. Associative Navigation Connects a Page with Other Pages that hold similar content Exploratory Seeking Good for finding what you don’t know, but should Easily driven by meta data Other documents / articles by author Other documents or pages on the same subject

63. Associative Navigation

64. Utility Navigation Connects Pages and Features that help users accomplish specific tasks Sign In View / Edit My Profile Edit Content Upload Document

65. Utility Navigation

66. Other Principles Design Ergonomically Scrolling Distance Scrolling Frequency Paragraph Width Be Consistent, Consider Standards Your web site is not the first one that your users have visited Rely on Recognition Rather than on Recall Visited Links, Favorites / My Links, Auto Complete Provide Contextual Help and Documentation

67. In Summary Web Sites are fairly recent, but finding our way around places is not. Rely on proven principles like Wayfinding You are building the site for your Users so bring them in early in the process Most of your design decisions should be driven by your research, think of how often we had to look back. If you don’t do the research you are building blind. Design with usability and findability in mind

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69. Session Evaluation Please complete and turn in your Session Evaluation Form so we can improve future events. Presenter: Rafael Perez Session Name: Information Architecture Essentials

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