SIGIA-L Mail Archives: Re: SIGIA-L: can we talk about site maps
Re: SIGIA-L: can we talk about site maps as navigation?
From: Shawn Smith (shawn_at_metapede.com)
Date: Mon Apr 23 2001 - 14:59:35 EDT
on 4/20/01 8:10 AM, christina at cwodtke_at_eleganthack.com wrote:
> there are many different
> types of users who think in many different ways. some people click images,
> some people click text links. some people are search-dominate, some people
> are browse dominate. a good system supports a range of users and their
> different ways of accomplishing their preferred tasks.
<off the site maps topic>
It's certainly true that a good system supports a range of users' preferred
navigation methods, but it's also true that a system, by its own nature,
often determines the preferred method. For example, I'm a frequent user of
Amazon.com, but I can't remember ever browsing the site. I absolutely always
use Amazon's search feature. That, however, doesn't make me
"search-dominate" in my use of the web as a whole. As an aside, I've always
thought the rapid proliferation of navigation "tabs" on e-commerce sites
scrambling to ape Amazon.com was kind of funny, since I've never actually
*used* Amazon's tabs.
<on site maps>
I'll reiterate the comments of a few others in this thread... In my
experience of heuristic testing/observation, users (visitors, whatever) turn
to a site map when their first attempts to navigate a site fail or
frustrate.
However, while some have suggested that site maps are 1. unnecessary if the
IA is solid, and/or 2. a sign of admitted failure on the part of the
developers, I disagree. Site maps, if available, are always visited by a
percentage of users, no matter how successful the primary navigation tools
are. I can't imagine a site map actually *causing* usability problems, so if
a site map can be built and maintained with reasonable effort, then why not
include one?
--
shawn smith
IA Gun for Hire
t: 510 625 9286
m: 510 682 9504
f: 703 940 8678
shawn_at_metapede.com
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