Site Maps

by Faith 15. June 2010 20:10
Site Maps
Site Map Provides a visual representation of each page of the web site and the logical flow of navigation between them. It also denotes functional features, and levels of navigation including primary, secondary, tertiary, utility, and footer.
   
Answers the following questions:
  • What is the exact structure of the site?
  • Where will the pages live?
  • How will the user be able to move through content sections and find the relevant and important information?
Provides the following benefits:
  • Provides a current document on the site's architecture throughout the design and development process
  • Allows the client to see the site and it's structure at a glance prior to the design-phase
 
Sitemaps are representations of the architecture of a web site or web-based application. As a planning tool, a sitemap helps developers and clients understand the nature and extent of a product's logical architecture by displaying all the pages or screens in the product and their relationship to each other.

The sitemaps presented here were designed in an isometric format for several reasons. Since isometrics make good use of available space, large architectures can be more easily presented than if the map was depicted solely in landscape or portrait mode.

Also, since people live in the physical world, seeing a complex architecture in a 3D-like presentation helps them better envision the scope of a site or application. Because this format is familiar to them, less time is spent orienting someone in how to understand the relationships the map reveals. Plus, it looks cool.

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Site Maps


Sitemap Examples

by Faith Warren 15. June 2010 20:09
 
A lot of people ask "How did you do these in Visio?" I assure you it isn't possible in Visio, but I have used many wireframing a prototyping softwares and highly recommend, if you are a mac user, Omnigraffle. I am adding this as an aside because enough people have asked about these documents to merit an honorable mention. For those PC users out there Axure can provide some other things Omnigraffle doesn't, like outputting the pages into HTML that can be instantly used for QA test purposes, but the bad side of that is sometimes the end users think the wireframes are the end design and leave you little room to be creative after seeing them and testing with them...

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Site Maps

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