Product Description

All web sites have an architecture, whether you design one or not-just as every building has an architecture, from the lowly shanty by the railroad track to Chicago¿s tallest skyscraper. Unfortunately, most web sites are shanties, not skyscrapers. Companies that hastily threw up a web site in the dot-com boom days were visited by building inspector Jakob Neilsen, who told them their site should be condemned. But now we are entering a time of rebuilding, and we¿ve got a chance to get it right.

Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web introduces the core concepts of information architecture: organizing web site content so that it can be found, designing web site interaction so that it's pleasant to use, and creating an interface that is easy to understand. This book will help designers, project managers, programmers, and other information architecture practitioners avoid the costly mistakes of the past by teaching the skills of information architecture swiftly and clearly. Use this book and you will pass the usability inspection with flying colors!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #231064 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From the Back Cover

All web sites have an architecture, whether you design one or not-just as every building has an architecture, from the lowly shanty by the railroad track to Chicago's tallest skyscraper. Unfortunately, most web sites are shanties, not skyscrapers. Companies that hastily threw up a web site in the dot-com boom days were visited by building inspector Jakob Neilsen, who told them their site should be condemned. But now we are entering a time of rebuilding, and we've got a chance to get it right.

Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web introduces the core concepts of information architecture: organizing web site content so that it can be found, designing web site interaction so that it's pleasant to use, and creating an interface that is easy to understand. This book will help designers, project managers, programmers, and other information architecture practitioners avoid the costly mistakes of the past by teaching the skills of information architecture swiftly and clearly. Use this book and you will pass the usability inspection with flying colors!

About the Author

Christina Wodtke has been an information architect for four years and is a leader in the growing field of information architecture. She founded Boxes and Arrows, an online magazine of information architecture; chaired the fourth annual ASIS&T summit on information architecture; and has spoken on the topic of information architecture at conferences ranging from Seybold to Web World.

Christina is a partner at Carbon IQ, a user-experience agency in San Francisco, where she designs information architectures and conducts user research in the quest to create more usable, effective, and profitable products. Clients have included Shockwave.com, Wells Fargo, Sprite, and Houghton Mifflin, as well as nonprofits such as BraveKids.org and UrbanSchool.org.

Customer Reviews

insight into a true leader
this volume is an extremely valuable lesson from a true leader in the field. Wodtke provides insight into the thinking behind some of the most-used services on the Internet today.

It's worth taking the time to read a book like this
This book won't present shocking facts about IA but it puts in writing many things that come in handy when you have to work in this field. The author includes good examples and the book can be read from cover to cover without feeling overwhelmed. Overall, it's worth taking the time out to read a book like this.

Another book on usability
Three first chapters are quite original. But nothing new in the rest of the book. Good ideas. But I won't say that is a basic book or a must read. Is interesting for people who builds websites or deeply interested in them. Is a mixture of usability, test, architecture. And you cannot say the last word on every topic in the world in 300 pages.