Better Practice Checklist - 15. Information Architecture for Websites
May 2004 (organisational details updated January 2008)
Introduction
Australian Government departments and agencies have developed a range of websites and intranets that provide information and services. Over time, these sites have grown, and the information architecture - the way in which the information is structured on the site - has become more important. Without appropriate information architecture, sites can become disorganised, difficult to use and manage.
A key role of the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), Department of Finance and Deregulation is to identify and promote 'Better Practice'. This checklist has been created to help agencies to consider key issues for website information architecture in the Australian Government context. The items in the checklist are, however, not mandatory.
This checklist is intended to be a guide to managers responsible for information and services provided on websites, website managers, intranet managers, communications managers and others. This checklist focuses on non-technical issues.
It should be noted that the checklist is not intended to be comprehensive. Rather, it highlights key issues for agencies. The checklist is iterative and draws on the expertise and experience of practitioners. The subject matter and issues are reviewed and updated to reflect developments.
Download PDF of Checklist 15 - Information Architecture for Websites [
- 295 KB]
Acknowledgments
This checklist was developed with the assistance of Australian Government agencies. In particular, we would like to thank the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Health Insurance Commission and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.
In addition, we would like to thank Step Two Designs Pty Ltd
What is information architecture and why consider it?
Information architecture (IA) involves structuring and organising information on websites to assist people to achieve their information needs. IA is the foundation of good website and intranet design. It is about planning where information and services will be located on the site in the most convenient and logical way for users. Effective IA can help ensure that sites meet business and user needs.
Australian Government agencies are finding that IA issues are particularly important when they are redesigning or redeveloping existing websites or intranets. Sites established several years ago may have grown in an ad hoc way or grown very large. As a result they may be confusing to users and difficult to manage and may not accurately reflect current agency priorities.
Consideration of IA issues when creating new sites also provides opportunities for agencies to develop effective sites.
Note that IA is closely tied to issues such as navigation, metadata, usability testing, usage analysis and search facilities. It is not intended to cover these issues in this checklist. For further information about these issues, consult the following checklists:
Better Practice Checklist 2, Website Navigation
Better Practice Checklist 3, Testing Websites with Users
Better Practice Checklist 6, Use of Metadata for Web Resources
Better Practice Checklist 11, Website Usage Monitoring and Evaluation
Better Practice Checklist 14, Designing and Managing an Intranet
Better Practice Checklist 16, Implementing an Effective Website Search Facility.
This checklist focuses on the information organisation and structure aspects of IA.
Summary of Checkpoints
Early planning
Identify the business goals of the website
Identify the target audience and their needs
Determine what services, functionality or information will be provided via the website
Describe how users will interact with the website to meet their needs
Consider what type of website structure will be appropriate
Defining the content
Identify the content required to support the services that will be provided on the website
Grouping and labelling the content
Determine how content will be grouped on the website
Determine a logical content hierarchy
Identify other grouping methods
Identify related information
Create labels to represent information on the website
Map content to the IA
Documenting the IA
Document the IA
Reviewing and implementing the IA
Review the initial structure
Test the proposed structure with users
Design navigation elements
Monitor and evaluate use of the website
Checkpoints
Early planning
Identify the business goals of the website
Before designing or redesigning a website or intranet, agencies may wish to consider the business goals of the site. Identifying the business goals can help focus the design process and ensure that all work is consistent with these goals.
Business goals may be outlined in proposals or business cases for sites or in the agency's strategic documents.
Identify the target audience and their needs
A good IA can address both business goals and user needs. User needs include both the activities users will want to undertake on the website and the information they want.
Different groups of users may have different needs or expectations of the site. Audience groups for a website may include small business people, farmers, tourists, immigrants, students, families, other government, etc.
Consider listing what each user group may wish to achieve on the site - the information they may be looking for and the tasks they may like to undertake on the site. Agencies may also consider the group's familiarity with online systems, the equipment they are using, the bandwidth of the connection they use, their familiarity with English and the level of detail in the information they require.
A number of techniques can be used to assist in understanding users' needs. These include analysis of feedback, user surveys, focus groups and analysis of usage statistics. Further information on these techniques is available in Better Practice Checklist 11, Website Usage Monitoring and Evaluation.
Determine what services, functionality or information will be provided via the website
The list of business goals and user requirements for the website may be lengthy. Consider what services, functionality or information can be provided on the site to meet identified needs and goals. In the first instance it may be useful to determine the business goals or user needs that cannot be provided by the site or that may be addressed at a later date.
Describe how users will interact with the website to meet their needs
For each of the user needs identified, consider an example of how a user may meet these needs on the site and what activities they may undertake on the site. Where the need is to find information, the example may include a list of information the user requires. Where the need is to conduct an activity on the site (for example, paying a bill or completing a form), the example may include the steps in the process that the user would undertake.
For a large site, describing user interaction with the website may take some time, and the list may be long. However, clearly identifying the information tasks of users before developing the IA may help to ensure that all functional requirements are included.
Consider what type of website structure will be appropriate
There are a number of different website structures, which may be appropriate for different target groups and purposes. Some types of sites to consider include:
- Functional sites. These are generally structured around actions that can be undertaken by the user, such as print a form, register online or pay a fee. Functional sites can be useful if there is not too much content on the website.
- Topical sites. These are structured around topics that may be of interest to the user, such as veterans, aged or higher education.
- Multi-target sites. These enable users from different target groups to access content specifically designed for their group's needs, such as for business, for families or for students.
Some websites may include aspects of a number of types at different levels in their structure.
Note that many Australian Government agencies have moved away from structuring their sites along organisational structure lines - that is, 'Executive', 'Corporate', 'Communications', 'Division X', 'Division Y', etc. Agencies with websites structured along these lines may wish to consider whether other structures would better meet the needs of users and their business goals.
Defining the content
Identify the content required to support the services that will be provided on the website
Once the information needs of users and the required functions have been identified, agencies may wish to consider creating a list of the content or content types that are needed on the site.
If the website contains a lot of information, consider listing content types (such as news, events, media releases) rather than each piece of content.
Content inventories may include content that:
- exists on the site in a form that meets the user's needs
- exists on the site but needs to be changed
- exists within the organisation, or
- does not exist.
Existing sites may contain content that does not meet any of the identified user needs. Consider whether this content is:
- likely to meet a need that you have not identified (this will be the case for large sites as it is impossible to identify everything users may want)
- more complex than the user's need, or
- unlikely to be needed.
Agencies may wish to trim the content list, and consider whether it is better to meet the needs of the majority of users easily rather than to include all content at the expense of simplicity.
Grouping and labelling the content
Determine how content will be grouped on the website
Once the content and services to be provided have been identified, they can be sorted into logical groups. The work of understanding the user's needs, and identifying the content to meet their needs, may provide some guidance regarding how to group the content.
It may also be useful to gain input from user representatives to help ensure that their needs are met.
A number of methods can be used to sort content. These include:
- Cardsorting . This involves writing each element of content or content type on a separate index card, sorting them into groups of related content and describing the groups. The results of the grouping can be analysed as another input to the IA of the website.
This is a well-established (and low tech!) technique which can be helpful in evaluating hierarchies and undertaking 'information chunking'. Although it does not provide a finished product, it does provide a useful starting point and can help understand the needs of users.
- Written outlines . These can involve using a word-processing package to organise and number content. For example:
1 Pensions
1.1 Types of Pensions
1.1.1 Disability Pension
2 Superannuation
2.1 Superannuation Schemes
2.1.1 Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme
- Mind mapping. This involves drawing a representational diagram of the relationships between content on the website. It usually starts with a central circle labelled 'home'. Subjects are drawn as lines out from the circle.
Determine a logical content hierarchy
Websites structured around a logical and useful hierarchy can make it easier to decide on a navigation system and to design page layouts. Consider the hierarchy that will be most appropriate for the information and services to be provided on the site and that meets the needs of users.
Hierarchies can be narrow and deep, or broad and shallow:
- Broad hierarchies. In these there are a large number of main menu choices but fewer lower levels of the hierarchy. The disadvantage is that, if there are many main menu choices, the page may be cluttered and choices too specific. The advantage is that the information required by users may be only a few 'clicks' away.
- Narrow hierarchies. In these there are few main menu choices and many lower levels of the hierarchy. The disadvantage is that the choices may be not be specific enough, so users may need to click through a number of levels to find the information they require. The advantage is that front pages may be simpler and users less confused about the most appropriate menu choice.
Agencies may wish to consider a balance of broad and narrow in the hierarchy of their site. For example, some parts of the site may contain very detailed information with a deeper structure than other parts of the website.
Identify other grouping methods
Not all parts of the site may be hierarchical. Other ways of grouping information include:
- alphabetical - that is, A-Z index
- chronological - for example, by date released, date updated
- geographical - for example, by region
- based on a person - for example, author, group
- task-based - for example, register, pay bill
- audience - for example, individuals, business, government.
These methods may be used to group a particular part of the site, or as an addition to the main hierarchy.
Identify related information
In developing the hierarchy, content may be identified that could be located in more than one place in the hierarchy, or separate content groups may be identified that are related but not in the same part of the hierarchy. This type of information can be linked so that users do not have to move up and down the hierarchy to get to additional information.
Create labels to represent information on the website
Once the hierarchy has been developed, all parts of it can be assigned labels, which will eventually be used in navigation and links.
Labels that are accurate and informative are more easily understood by users. Labels based on language used by users, rather than language used by the agency (especially jargon and acronyms), may be particularly useful.
When designing labels, agencies may wish to consider the context in which they will be used and whether the labels could lead to confusion. For example, the label 'site map' for showing what is on a website could be confusing if the website is about physical locations and contains a number of other maps.
Map content to the IA
When the grouping and labelling have been developed, the content that will be included in the site can be fitted into the structure of the site. For large sites, this process may expose areas that need to be broken down further or new areas that may need to be included.
Documenting the IA
Document the IA
Describing the IA and the rationale behind it in a written document can provide a useful tool for the ongoing management of the website. It can help ensure that the website does not lose its structure over time and become less effective, or alternatively it can be a basis for decisions to change the structure.
Documentation may include a website blueprint that provides a visual representation of the site structure, to show how elements of the site are grouped and how they link and relate to one another. A blueprint can be created using software for flowcharts, organisation charts or graphics. A completed blueprint can the form the basis of a site map.
Reviewing and implementing the IA
Review the initial structure
Before developing the actual website, it may be useful to review the proposed structure. As part of this review, agencies may wish to consider these questions:
- Are the business goals of the website met by the structure?
- Does the structure meet users' goals?
- Do users understand the labels and language?
- Is there a place for every chunk of information?
- Does content fit together logically?
- Is the structure too wide - menus not specific enough?
- Is the structure too narrow - menus too specific?
- Do all individual pages have relevant content, or are they just menus?
- Does the structure easily allow for growth and change?
Test the proposed structure with users
At this point it may be useful to test a prototype with a group of users. Further information about user testing is available in Better Practice Checklist 3, Testing Websites with Users.
Design navigation elements
Once the IA has been developed and tested, the way it will be represented on the page via navigation can be designed. Further information is available in Better Practice Checklist 2, Website Navigation.
Monitor and evaluate use of the website
Monitoring and evaluation of the use of the website can help agencies judge whether they are meeting their outputs and outcomes, whether the structure is meeting the needs of users and how the structure can be improved.
Further information is available in Better Practice Checklist 11, Website Usage Monitoring and Evaluation.
Other resources
Further details about IA are available from:
Louis Rosenfeld: www.louisrosenfeld.com [
]
Boxes and Arrows: www.boxesandarrows.com []
Digital Web: http://www.digital-web.com/columns/ianythinggoes/ []
Gerry McGovern: www.gerrymcgovern.com []
Step Two Designs: www.steptwo.com []
Jakob Nielson: www.useit.com []
Other websites: www.usability.gov []
Other Better Practice Checklists
- Providing Forms Online
- Website Navigation
- Testing Websites with Users
- Use of Cookies in Online Services
- Providing an Online Sales Facility
- Use of Metadata for Web Resources
- Archiving Web Resources
- Managing Online Content
- Selecting a Content Management System
- Implementing a Content Management System
- Website Usage Monitoring and Evaluation
- Online Policy Consultation
- Knowledge Management
- Designing and Managing an Intranet
- Information Architecture for Websites
- Implementing an Effective Website Search Facility
- Spatial Data on the Internet
- Digitisation of Records
- Access and Equity Issues for Websites
- Marketing E-government
- ICT Support for Telework
- Assistive Technology for Employees of the Australian Government
- Decommissioning Government Websites
- ICT Asset Management
- Managing the Environmental Impact of ICT
Download PDF of Checklist 15 - Information Architecture for Websites [ - 295 KB]
Contact for information on this page: AGIMO Better Practice Team