[Web4lib] re: reorganizing a web site

[Sonya Norris]

Hi Kathy,
I reorganized all the files on the server that houses an Intranet I maintain a little over two years ago while in a situation very similar to where you are now: I had just undertaken two rounds of usability testing and a re-org of the site. I was so thrilled with the results of the usability testing (yes, it really, really, really does work for those who still haven't tried it) that I based my file naming convention on the navigation scheme that resulted from the testing. The site rests behind a firewall so I can't take you there, but here's a description of what I did:

The navigation scheme had three main components: For Staff, Reader Advisory and Parent Organization Info. There are seven subsections to "For Staff" and the front (sometimes only) pages for these subsections were named 
1staff-countycodes.html
1staff-rolodex.html
etc. 

Front pages in the Reader Advisory section were named 
2readvsr-awards.html
2readvsr-subjects.html
etc.

For subsections with lots and lots of individual pages (this site as 300+ pages), I name the files for the pages based on my ability to find them grouped in alphabetical order on the server. For instance, the book lists on Westerns were titled:
westernscattle.html
westernschristian.html
westernsgoldfever.html
westernsrailroad.html
etc.

I use a naming convention with images and PDFs also, so they all group together and can be found easily.

I'm not real big on having lots of subdirectories. I save them for complete projects that are time-sensitive. For instance, all the pages and images relating to our volunteer award luncheon were put in a folder so when that info came off the site I could delete the entire folder, no fuss, no muss, no straggling JPGs. In part this is because I work in HomeSite and I can make sweeping changes to all pages in a particular folder but not in multiple folders at the same time. 

Good luck!

Sonya Norris
Web Site Administrator
Library of Michigan



>>> Kathy Gaynor <kgaynor at webster.edu> 11/01/05 11:33 AM >>>
We are in the midst of a complete redesign and want to use this opportunity 
to reorganize our library's web site (<http://library.webster.edu>).  We 
started many years ago as a web site with a handful of pages that we threw 
into the root directory.  We have made subdirectories as needed over the 
years in a somewhat haphazard fashion (gee, the root directory is getting 
pretty long, let's move some stuff out of there).

So far we have looked at our content and have done a rough inventory.  We 
have assigned working names to groups of similar files (e.g. "Facility 
Information", "Instructional Materials", etc.).  These are rather broad 
categories to my mind.

So here are my questions:

1. How have you gone about organizing the files on your server?  Do you put 
everything under a subdirectory (e.g. ../facility/hours.html)?  Or are some 
things left in the root directory (e.g. ../hours.html)?

2. How narrow do you make your subdirectories (categories)?

Any advice, war stories, etc. that you could offer related to this topic 
would be much appreciated.


Kathy M. Gaynor, Reference Librarian		
Emerson Library
Webster University				
470 E. Lockwood Ave.			
St. Louis, MO  63119
(314) 961-2660 x7811
(314) 968-7113 fax
kgaynor at webster.edu