Building A Great Intranet Taxonomy
|
|
While it may seem like a "quick and easy" task, defining the navigation structure and organization of your intranet site will be one of the most challenging tasks you will face in the course of your project. It is also one of the most critical success factors. The site structure, also referred to as the information architecture or taxonomy, is the foundation of your intranet. Creating an effective taxonomy is as much an art as it is a science. Use the wrong terms and your users won't be able to navigate by intuition. Make your site too deep and they will never find the content they're looking for.
One common myth is that if you integrate a search engine with your site you don't need to focus as much on the taxonomy. This is completely false. All web users can be generalized into one of 2 buckets; "browsers" or "searchers". Searchers, of course, will first use a search engine to locate content while browsers will manually look for the desired information by navigating the taxonomy. This is not to say that browsers never search, or vice versa, it merely suggests that all users have a preference for one method or the other when attempting to locate content. The most efficient site will have a well-organized taxonomy AS WELL AS a good search engine to satisfy both types of users.
Building your taxonomy
Creating a taxonomy on your own is arguably the best approach. After all, no one knows your organization's culture and terminology better than you. If you're short on professional taxonomists here are some tips to keep in mind when defining your taxonomy.
- The overall taxonomy should be wide, not deep
- Use primary terms rather than marketing oriented or slang terms (the goal is to use language that can be understood by a new employee on their first day of work)
- Try to keep some rigidity to the taxonomy, at least at the top levels -- this promotes familiarity for the users and enhances usability
- Build two taxonomies; the primary being functional-centric and the secondary being organization-centric underneath the functional-centric
- Try to limit your structure to just 2-7 items under each branch, otherwise consolidate
- Use real content to validate your taxonomy
- Define, validate, re-tool, define, validate, re-tool, and so on ?- taxonomy development is an iterative process
- The structure should be very broad on top and narrow at the lowest levels
Remember that the taxonomy is a tool to locate content. The best way to verify you have a model that works is to use focus groups to test the structure. Ask the group where they would expect to find a specific example of content within the structure and see if that maps with what you've defined. If they keep missing, you need to go back and re-work the structure based on their feedback.
Bryan A. Mjaanes
Intranet101.com Admin
http://www.Intranet101.com
|
|
|
Created & Maintained by Empower! CMS Web Sites
Host2Sell Web Hosting | Emarketing Workshops | Site SEO Review | FREE NewsletterAre Web Graphics Stealing Your Money?
They might not be wearing a mask and carrying a gun, but if you've got images on your web pages then they could be costing you a lot more money than you think every time a visitor looks at one. That's because image files are typically the biggest bandwidth user on any web page. Whenever a visitor's browser is displaying an image on your site, it's actually downloading that image to the local user's hard drive. When anything gets downloaded, it uses bandwidth and bandwidth costs money. The moral of that story is: The bigger the image the more bandwidth it consumes.If you are hosting a popular photo gallery site, or you are an ISP with clients who have a lot of images on their sites, than it is entirely possible that most of your bandwidth is being eaten up by images!Every good problem deserves a solutionThere is a ...(related: Web Development)
The Birth Of A Professional Web Site
The Internet has opened a whole New World of opportunity for all of us. With the vast amount of information available at your fingertips, it has never been easier to communicate your message to the world.A web site will enable you to create your own home on the World Wide Web. Your home may be as simple or dynamic as you'd like and is only limited by your imagination.Although designing a great web site is an important part of developing a successful online business, it is only one small part ...(related: Web Development)
Top 10 Webmaster Challenges
Webmasters deal with a myriad of complex design challenges every day. This article will discuss the top ten challenges and provide solutions and tips for solving each problem.1. Browser Compatibility You must design your Web site so that it is viewable on both browsers: Netscape Navigator and Microsoft...(related: Web Development)
Five Reasons You Have To Stop Your Web Site
That's right. Your method, behavior and strategy you are now using to manage your website may be justifiable reasons to stop it as soon as possible.Right now, there are millions of websites on the Internet, many of them are dead static pages with not or very few visitors. The owner of websites are paying lots of money and effort to make the website up and running and are giving service to visitors. From within these much of website owners, a little of them are earning money from their website or their website is beneficial for their business, most of the o...(related: Web Development)
Web Design For The Professional Magician Part I - Selecting The Perfect Domain Name
Selecting the Perfect Domain NameThe first issue I have with magician web sites is the improper use of domain names. Examine the following list of URLs and select the most professional one:
- www.freewebspace.com/users/losers/reallosers/Hire-me.html (Example 1)
- http://www.Kooool-Magic-2day4U2.tv/ (Example 2)
- http://www.WebToastyHosty.com/234asdkjfd/No-hire-me....(related: Web Development)
Kiss Your Website!
Many web developers today are starting to KISS their website, and it shows!No, I don't mean they get hot and heavy with the monitor, I mean they apply the basic values of Keep It Simple Stupd! (KISS)Many sites today are focusing on high end graphics, advanced java scripts, catchy logos, and other trivial factors...(related: Web Development)
Setting Up Your First Website
Q. Hey, Cathy: I'm just setting up a website. What should I do?A. First, don't call the web designer yet! Write out a detailed summary of your ideal client, if you haven't already done so. Get very clear on what b...(related: Web Development)
What Business Owners Must Know Before They Commit To Having A Web Site
Q1.Why would I need a web site?A1.- Improve my service by providing the existing clients with useful resourcesThat will help me to build up the loyalty of the clientele and get returning clients.Examples: my contact details, this month special, technical info on the products.- Obtain new clients via InternetThat is how I am going to make new sales.Example: local resident searching for "car dealers Geelong" on Google,will find my web site with latest stock details and pricing.- My strongest competitors already have web sites!That is how I am going to match and beat them in the competition.Q2.How am I going ...(related: Web Development)
Streamline Your Business Website With A Content Management System
I talk with so many people who have small businesses and would like to have a web presence but don't know the first thing about how to even get started. Some of the reasons I hear are:- I don't know how to build a website.- I have enough work to do... when am I going to maintain a website?- I don't want to keep paying someone everytime I want to update my website.So when I tell them they CAN have a website without the technical knowledge, without taking a lot of time, and without hiring a webmaster, they are eager to find out what this incredible solution is.The solution is a CMS!What the heck is a CMS?A CMS is a Content Management System. CMS's are the newest technology for the...(related: Web Development)
Web Success Secret - Keep Your Visitors Interested
Visitors to your site come looking for information or solutions to their problems. They will remain there if they fin...(related: Web Development)
Your Biggest Mistake When You Create A Website?
--------------------------------Why Should You Create a website?--------------------------------A. What do you want when you create a website?B. What to do to get what you want.--------------------A. What do you want?--------------------1. You may be in a non-profit organisation and want to post forthcoming events on the web. You don't want to have thousands of visitors to the site. But wait - do you want to create a website for new members from the web? I found a new barbershop singer thr...(related: Web Development)
Make Your Own Website - General Website Design Tips
Wow, we`ve already taken a domain and chosen a web host. Great job ! Now it`s time for something special: making your own website. You could`ve completed this step ...(related: Web Development)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 Empower! Web Design | All Rights Reserved. | Web Development