It can be difficult to know exactly what components make up an information architecture. Users interact directly with some components, while other components are so behind the scenes that users are unaware of their existence.
In the next four chapters, we’ll present and discuss information architecture components by breaking them up into the following four categories:
- Organization Systems
How we categorize information, e.g., by subject or chronology. See Chapter 5.
- Labeling Systems
How we represent information, e.g., scientific terminology (“Acer”) or lay terminology (“maple”). See Chapter 6.
- Navigation Systems
How we browse or move through information, e.g., clicking through a hierarchy. See Chapter 7.
- Searching Systems
How we search information, e.g., executing a search query against an index. See Chapter 8.
Like any categorization scheme, this one has its problems. For example, it can be difficult to distinguish organization systems from labeling systems (hint: you organize content into groups, and then label those groups; each group can be labeled in different ways) . In such situations, it can be useful to group objects in new ways. So before we delve into these systems, we’ll present an alternative method of categorizing information architecture components. This method is comprised of browsing aids, search aids, content and tasks, and “invisible” components.
These components present users with a predetermined set of paths to help them navigate the site. Users don’t articulate their queries, but instead find their way through menus and links. Types of browsing aids include:
- Organization Systems
The main ways of categorizing a site’s content. Also known as taxonomies and hierarchies.
- Site-wide Navigation Systems
Primary navigation systems that help users understand where they are and where they can go within a site.
- Local Navigation Systems
Primary navigation systems that help users understand where they are and where they can go within a portion of a site (i.e., a subsite).
- Sitemaps/Tables of Contents
Navigation systems that supplement primary navigation systems; provide a condensed overview of and links to major content areas and subsites within the site, usually in outline form.
- Site Indexes
Supplementary navigation systems that provide an alphabetized list of links to the contents of the site.
- Site Guides
Supplementary navigation systems that provide specialized information on a specific topic, as well as links to a related subset of the site’s content.
- Site Wizards
Supplementary navigation systems that lead users through a sequential set of steps; may also link to a related subset of the site’s content.
- Contextual Linking Systems
Consistently presented links to related content. Often embedded in text, and generally used to connect highly specialized content within a site.
These components allow the entry of a user-defined query (e.g., a search) and automatically present users with a customized set of results that match their query. Think of these as dynamic, automated counterparts to browsing aids. Types of search components include:
- Search Interface
The means of entering a search query, typically with information on how to improve your query, as well as other ways to configure your search (e.g., selecting from specific search zones).
- Query Language
The grammar of a search query; query languages might include Boolean operators (e.g., AND, OR, NOT), proximity operators (e.g., ADJACENT, NEAR), or ways of specifying which field to search (e.g., AUTHOR="Shakespeare”).
- Retrieval Algorithms
The part of a search engine that determines which content matches a user’s query.
- Search Zones
Subsets of site content that have been separately indexed to support narrower searching (e.g., searching the tech support area within a software vendor’s site).
- Search Results
Presentation of content that matches the user’s search query; involves decisions of what types of content should make up each individual result, how many results to display, and how results should be ranked, sorted, and clustered.
These are the users’ ultimate destinations, as opposed to separate components that get users to their destinations. However, it’s difficult to separate content and tasks from an information architecture, as there are components embedded in content and tasks that help us find our way. Examples of information architecture components embedded in content and tasks include:
- Headings
- Embedded Links
Links within text; these label (i.e., represent) the content they link to.
- Embedded Metadata
Information that can be used as metadata but must first be extracted (e.g., in a recipe, if an ingredient is mentioned, this information can be indexed to support searching by ingredient).
- Chunks
Logical units of content; these can vary in granularity (e.g., books and chapters are both chunks) and can be nested (e.g., a chapter is part of a book).
- Lists
Groups of chunks or links to chunks; these are important because they’ve been grouped together (e.g., they share some trait in common) and have been presented in a particular order (e.g., chronologically).
- Sequential Aids
Clues that suggest where the user is in a process or task, and how far he has to go before completing it (e.g., “step 3 of 8”).
- Identifiers
Clues that suggest where the user is in an information system (e.g., a logo that specifies what site she is using, or a breadcrumb that explains where in the site she is at the moment).
Certain key architectural components run completely in the background; users rarely (if ever) interact with them. These components often “feed” other components, such as a controlled vocabulary that populates embedded metadata fields. Types of invisible information architecture components include:
- Controlled Vocabularies
Predetermined vocabularies of preferred terms that describe a specific domain (e.g., auto racing or orthopedic surgery); typically include variant terms (e.g., “brewskie” is variant term for “beer”).
- Thesauri
A controlled vocabulary that may also include links to broader and narrower terms, as well as descriptions of preferred terms (a.k.a. “scope notes”).
- Rule Sets
Groups of rules that can be used to guide information retrieval (e.g., if someone searches for “handheld,” present these three manually identified results).
Whichever method you use for categorizing architectural components, it’s useful to drill down beyond the abstract concept of information architecture and become familiar with its more tangible aspects. In the following chapters we’ll take an even deeper look at the nuts and bolts of an information architecture.
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