Social network websites are web applications, rather than web sites.
In a web site, users browse to access contents. In a web application,
users perform tasks to access application states.
Stakeholders and people involved in the design, development and
documentation of a web application, need to freely access the
different states of the application, without actually performing the
tasks that drive the application to that particular state.
For these actors, a flow chart of the tasks/functions, with links to
the "pages" of the web application, would be appropiate. A way to
quickly reveal what "pages" are shared by different functions (page
names, color coding) needs to be thought out.
End users cannot freely "navigate" the application to a particular
state without performing required tasks. Therefore, web applications -
as desktop applications- don't usually offer a site map. What end
users need and can use, is a well-written help section answering what
steps are required to perform their goals. Copywriters can use the
flow chart as a reference to develop that documentation.
--
Santiago Bustelo // icograma
Buenos Aires, Argentina
On 11/06/2008, at 12:14, Tom Dell'Aringa wrote:
Good Morning,
My current project is a social network. I'm actually having some
trouble
putting together a good site map because so many features seem to
either
overlap, or more importantly, one page will support multiple
features. There
is much less of a "page" paradigm, it's so much more the interactive
behavior of the users. For example, on Facebook's profile page, I
can do so
many different things - especially if I have added any applications.
Have any of you faced this, and if so, how did you tackle site
mapping? It's
not that I find the site map such a huge crucial piece of the
puzzle, but
it's something our stakeholders will want to see. It's also been
tricky with
the wireframing and organizing each page as well. Any tips are
appreciated.
Tom
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