Heads up! To view this whole video, sign in with your Courses account or enroll in your free 7-day trial. Sign In Enroll
Well done!
You have completed Information Architecture!
You have completed Information Architecture!
Preview
In this video, we will cover how to apply IA best practices to website navigation, menus, and links between content.
New terms:
- User persona - a representative of the common website or app users; a profile that defines basic attributes of common users and helps designers and developers prioritize navigation and search options
Related Discussions
Have questions about this video? Start a discussion with the community and Treehouse staff.
Sign upRelated Discussions
Have questions about this video? Start a discussion with the community and Treehouse staff.
Sign up
In this video I wanna talk about
how to improve the navigation and
0:00
search options you provide as part
of your information architecture.
0:04
The options you provide to your
users will give them a clue
0:08
as to how they can find information,
so you could use navigation and
0:12
search to direct users down certain paths.
0:16
Let's say you're Domino's pizza,
for example,
0:20
the majority of people hitting the site
are trying to do one thing, order pizza.
0:22
So the navigation and
search features they provide
0:28
are designed to help a user
accomplish that specific goal.
0:32
cdbaby on the other hand is a website for
independent music artists
0:37
to sell their work, and for people who
want to buy music from those artists.
0:41
When you go to their site you're forced
to choice between two clear paths.
0:46
And when you do cdbaby will
present navigation and
0:51
other content that appeals to
the corresponding type of user.
0:54
So understanding who your users are will
help you determine the navigation and
0:58
search options you provide.
1:04
This is great because it can
help you define a scope.
1:05
You don't need to provide access to
everything imaginable if your users
1:09
only care about a certain
subset of information.
1:14
So for your website, how many different
kinds of users do you expect to have,
1:17
is there one, two, maybe three?
1:23
In design and marketing, we might
create what's called a user persona
1:27
to help us better define these
primary users of our site.
1:31
A user persona is a representative
of our common users.
1:36
It's a kind of profile that
answers questions to help us
1:39
prioritize navigation and search options.
1:42
Who are they, what attributes can you
define about them, like are they male or
1:46
female?
1:50
How old are they, where do they live,
and what do they do for a living?
1:51
And most importantly what are their
intentions on your website,
1:55
what goals are they trying to accomplish?
1:58
How familiar are they with your content,
and what terms and language do they use?
2:01
By defining those details and anticipating
their needs, you can create a site
2:07
navigation structure that emphasizes the
things they're looking for and provide.
2:12
And provide a collection
of search features so
2:16
they can find what they want as
quickly and as easily as possible.
2:19
For example, let's say you've built
a website to list local apartment rentals.
2:23
If you're looking for
an apartment to rent, there are so
2:29
many different details
you need to consider.
2:31
The location, the price, the amount
of space, the number of bedrooms,
2:34
the number of bathrooms,
the options, and so on.
2:37
All of those variables and
more impact the final decision.
2:42
So how do you meet all their needs
without overwhelming the user with
2:46
every choice possible?
2:51
Well, smart designers and
developers do two things,
2:53
first, they focus on
information priorities.
2:56
Certain attributes carry more weight than
others and it'll depend on the scenario.
3:00
For instance, think about if you wanna go
see a movie that's opening this weekend.
3:06
As you're ordering tickets,
the movie is a given,
3:11
it's the priority, but you can be
flexible with the location and show time.
3:15
But other times, you may not are what you
see, you just wanna get out of the house,
3:21
so the theater location and
time become more important.
3:25
And then based on what's available,
3:29
then you'll pick a movie that
matches your interest too.
3:31
But another smart thing you can
do is to make your navigation and
3:34
search process as easy
to start as possible.
3:37
If you can get people to make a few easy
choices the chances are better they'll
3:41
keep going until they find what they want.
3:45
Take a look at apartments.com,
this website doesn't ask you to define
3:48
everything you want when you're
looking for a place to rent.
3:53
They simplify the information
search by starting with priorities,
3:56
the location, price range,
number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
4:00
Those attributes can quickly
get a search started, so
4:05
the progress should be promising enough
that users will then want to keep going.
4:07
And that's when you give them filtering
and personalization options, so
4:13
they can pinpoint the exact
place they'd want.
4:18
The important lesson here is that no
matter how much information you're trying
4:21
to connect for your users.
4:25
You always want them to feel like they are
making progress with their navigation or
4:27
your search.
4:31
So get familiar with your users needs and
priorities, and you'll know
4:32
which options will help them make
the most progress through your website.
4:37
But you don't have to guess or
4:42
make assumptions here rely on
data to fine tune the experience.
4:44
Using your website analytics and
4:49
search data,
you can provide additional navigation and
4:50
search options to make a journey through
a website faster and more successful.
4:53
Search features, like auto completes or
4:58
suggestions can help users get to
the results they want more quickly.
5:01
Listing popular content or search results
is another way to exposed related or
5:05
trending needs to your user base.
5:10
Even a list of previously viewed pages or
5:13
past purchases can help users rediscover
content and get them back on a path.
5:15
By taking what you know about your
users through experience and personas.
5:22
And combining that knowledge
with real web site data,
5:26
you can predict the needs of your
users and highlight their priorities.
5:29
And if you can do those things,
you'll have a navigation and
5:34
search experience that's powerful and
effective.
5:37
You need to sign up for Treehouse in order to download course files.
Sign upYou need to sign up for Treehouse in order to set up Workspace
Sign up