Components of an Information Architecture - Browsing Aids
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These components present users with a predetermined set of paths to help them navigate the site. Users don’t articulate their queries, but instead find their way through menus and links. Types of browsing aids include:
Organization systems
The main ways of categorizing or grouping a site’s content (e.g., by topic, by task, by audiences, or by chronology). Also known as taxonomies and hierarchies. Tag clouds (based on user-generated tags) are also a form of organization system.
Site-wide navigation systems
Primary navigation systems that help users understand where they are and where they can go within a site (e.g., breadcrumbs).
Local navigation systems
Primary navigation systems that help users understand where they are and where they can go within a portion of a site (i.e., a subsite).
Sitemaps/Tables of contents
Navigation systems that supplement primary navigation systems; provide a condensed overview of and links to major content areas and subsites within the site, usually in outline form.
Site indices
Supplementary navigation systems that provide an alphabetized list of links to the contents of the site.
Site guides
Supplementary navigation systems that provide specialized information on a specific topic, as well as links to a related subset of the site’s content.
Site wizards
Supplementary navigation systems that lead users through a sequential set of steps; may also link to a related subset of the site’s content.
Contextual navigation systems
Consistently presented links to related content. Often embedded in text, and generally used to connect highly specialized content within a site.
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 This article is excerpted from chapter four of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Third Edition, written by Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld (O'Reilly, ISBN: 0596527349). Check it out today at your favorite bookstore. Buy this book now.
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