Aside from it being a navigation crutch. I've been told by our SEO manager that it's useful for spiders to index so that could be a reason to include it.
On Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 9:45 AM, Jared Spool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Oct 1, 2008, at 4:01 AM, Sachin wrote: > >> Site Map: I have been wondering how important the link "Site Map" is which >> I >> am planning to do away with on a corporate website? >> What I am looking at is to have those few sections and their sub-links >> upfront at the bottom of the page for all the subsequent pages besides the >> home page. Is this going to be too much information for the user to >> handle? > > > Hi Sachin, > > Earlier this year, I wrote about what you're trying to do here: > The Site Map: An Information Architecture Cop-Out > http://www.uie.com/articles/Sitemap/ > > If users are going to your site map, then there's likely to be something > seriously wrong with the information architecture of your site. We tell > clients that if they find a substantial number are going to the site map > from their home page to try an experiment and populate their home page with > the site map content. They typically see both a reduction in the site map > visits and an increase in the user satisfaction. It sounds like that's the > direction you're heading. > > Your plan to put all the links on the home page is fine. The problem with > links isn't the quantity. It's the "scent". Users need a clear way to tell > what each link does and how it's different from the other links. Make the > scent clear by providing great trigger words, and you'll be fine. > > Testing is essential. Wouldn't try this without it. > > Resources on scent: > Designing for the Scent of Information (costs $) > http://www.uie.com/reports/scent_of_information/ > > Lifestyles of Link-Rich Home Pages > http://www.uie.com/articles/linkrich_home_pages/ > > The Right Trigger Words > http://www.uie.com/articles/trigger_words/ > > Hope that helps, > > Jared > > Jared M. Spool > User Interface Engineering > 510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845 > e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] p: +1 978 327 5561 > http://uie.com Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > -- Adrian Chong www.adrianchong.com/blog ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
