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Exact Schemes. Divides information into mutually exclusive groups Category Time Location Alphabet Continuum. Category. Pertains to organization of good or services Retail site often used this scheme Different models, types, or questions Enforced by color. Time .
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Exact Schemes • Divides information into mutually exclusive groups • Category • Time • Location • Alphabet • Continuum
Category Pertains to organization of good or services • Retail site often used this scheme • Different models, types, or questions • Enforced by color
Time Organize events which happened over fixed duration • Calendar • Timeline
Location Categorize and compare information which comes from different locales or sources • Multinational sites • Medical sites
Alphabet • Dictionaries • Phone books • yahoo.com • When all else fails
Continuum Organizes items by magnitude from small to large • Least expensive to most expensive • Ranking of preference • Order of importants
Ambiguous Schemes • Divide information into categories which defy exact definition • Difficult to design and maintain • Difficult to use
Ambiguous Schemes • Mired in language ambiguity Example: hit • To strike • To touch • Reach one’s goals • A success (top 40’s) • Baseball
Ambiguous Schemes • More useful • More powerful • Allows for concept of “fuzzy”
Ambiguous Schemes • Topical • Task-oriented • Audience specific • Metaphor driven • Hybrid schemes
Topical Organizational method orders items by subject • Library of Congress • Table of Contents • Academic course listings
Task-oriented Organizational scheme into collection of: • Functions • Services • Tasks
Audience specific Useful when there are two or more audience types Bank has links for: • Individuals • Small Business • Corporations
Metaphor driven • Use a metaphor to organize content • Inherents advantages/problems of metaphors
Hybrid schemes • Combine multiple organizational schemes • Need clear separations or usability will suffer
Organizational Structures • Defines relationships among groups created by organizational scheme • Crucial to design • Important in web site design
Organizational Structures • Hierarchy • Database oriented • Hypertext • Form basis for web site navigation
Organizational StructuresHierarchy • Structure according to rank or level Examples: • Family tree • Corporate structure • Books
Organizational StructuresHierarchy Advantages: • Familiar • Successively refined detail Disadvantages: • True hierarchy requires backtracking
Organizational StructuresDatabase • Relational Database • Bottom-up approach • Searchable • Data-modeling can be time consuming
Organizational StructuresHypertext • Non-linear way of structuring information • Connected hierarchically, non-hierarchically or both. • Flexible • Can be very confusing • Where am I
Controlled Vocabulary • Web sites are collections of interconnected systems with complex dependencies • Meta-Data: data about data • Describes an organization across multiple terms
Controlled Vocabulary Controlled Vocabulary: predetermined vocabulary of preferred terms that describes a particular domain Simplest: list of equivalent terms Complex: Thesaurus
Synonym Ring Connected set of words which are defined as equivalent for purposes of retrieval
Authority File List of preferred terms Acceptable values Example: • Postal codes • Common misspellings
Classification Schemes • Hierarchical arrangements of preferred terms • Also called a taxonomy
Thesaurus Book of: • Synonyms • Variant terms • Related terms • Opposite terms
Card Sorting • Method of created a controlled vocabulary • Creates sets of objects and verbs • Quick and cheap • Draws out users organize topics
Card Sorting Differing types: • Open/Closes • Phrasing • Granularity • Heterogeneity • Cross-listing
Visual Organization • Proximity • Alignment • Contrast • Consistency
Visual Organization • Appearance Matters • Enforces content organization • Aids navigation • Influenced by human perception • Related to Page Design
Proximity • Items close together are perceived as related • Group related items together • Separate unrelated items
Alignment • Takes advantage of continuity to make objects appeared grouped • Virtual lines • Text alignment
Contrast • Draws attention to items on page • Page with little contrast if hard to read
Consistency • High degree of uniformity in layout • Consistency directly related to usability • Consistent site are much easier to navigate
Page Design • Related to visual organization • Provides balance between content organization and visual layout • Increases usability
Wireframe • Blueprint for site page • Describes content and information architecture • Created for site’s most important pages • Not replacement for real visual design