> Another example? Hop on an airplane and go to some random airport you've > never been to, then get yourself to the baggage claim. If you're being > honest while you observe yourself doing this little exercise, you'll notice > that all you really care about are the signs that point you to the baggage > claim. Everything else is may be moderately interesting, including the > airport maps that give you a large lay of the land...
All this depends, unfortunately, on the definition of what a "site map" is. In 5 mins one can google to find 5 different definitions and examples of the general notion. Is it an inventory of the entirety of a site? Is it by page? By categories? Is it just the main depts? Is it based on functional, actionable, conceptual, architectural or organizational categories? Is it a mirror of the site's physical file structure? And so on. Of course, if the "site" is a dynamically generated app that is highly contextualized or personalized, what happens to the very notion of a site *map*? If the designer is smart, there is sufficient traffic volume and analytics software is available, one can slice and dice the logs to see statistically meaningful cues as to where users go, in what contexts, from what referring pages to what destinations, etc., to arrive at useful predictive recommendations. IOW, if you get out of this arrival gate, in this airport, from this departure destination, at this hour of the day, given current congestion, loading/unloading patterns, etc. what are the top five directional signs that can be generated? Transfer, baggage, exit, restrooms, etc. This way, it's not difficult to knock out 90% of the "navigational" clutter and still provide a sense of useful possibilities. Just because a designer can create and "see" the architectural completeness (and complexity) of a site (at all times) doesn't mean the user should. -- Kontra http://counternotions.com ________________________________________________________________ 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
