Web Site Maps

[JQ Johnson]

Louis Rosenfeld writes
> I'm not crazy about site maps ... They tend to be hierarchically-
>oriented, and don't do a good job of conveying non-hierarchical 
>navigation

I think Rosenfield correctly identifies a major problem with most typical maps,
though the problem isn't inherent to the concept.  

As Rosenfield notes, librarians are very good at creating linear indices.  This
may argue for heavy use of that kind of searching aid, or it may argue that we
tend to be biased towards it.  Maybe the best metalevel advice to give here is
to get your map and visual resources librarians involved in web site design.

Maps for navigating a web offer at least 2 distinct advantages over linear
TOCs.  First, they are different (that's an advantage in itself, since we know
that different people prefer different navigational tools).  Second, they give
you the opportunity of easily presenting 2 dimensions of information.

But how to find 2 dimensions that can usefully be represented?  Just putting
the analog of an org chart (that's a kind of map, after all) on your library
pages may offer some help, but won't go very far to aiding your users unless
the organizational structure is important to them.  If it IS important, then
the org chart may be much better than a textual representation of the
organizational relationships, if only because people are familiar with that
layout.  Even for simple hierarchical data such as this, a graphical
presentation can be a useful alternative -- witness the success of
iconic/graphical user interfaces to PC file systems.

Similarly, a "map" that is actually a traditional planar or 3d map of the
physical space of the library can often be useful, in part because we're
familiar with that kind of information presentation, and in part because the
spatial relationships it conveys are important to many of our users,
particularly those surfing our web from within our libraries.

Then, as Rosenfield notes, there are "maps" where the dimensions themselves are
generated on the fly based on the user's interests.  Examples include the
concept maps that are becoming an increasingly important part of search engine
user interfaces.  I don't think most of us are ready to implement such things
on our web servers, though!

JQ Johnson                      office: 115F Knight Library
Academic Education Coordinator  email: jqj at darkwing.uoregon.edu
1299 University of Oregon       voice: 1-541-346-1746  fax: -3485
Eugene, OR  97403-1299          <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj>