Information architecture
Is your website organised in a way that everyone can easily navigate?
Why it’s important
- Edward has low technical literacy. Edward needs a site’s layout to be clear.
- Siaosi has low vision and uses a screen reader to navigate the web.
- Kimberly has a newborn and her attention is often divided. Kimberly needs to be able to understand a site’s contents at a glance.
- Kelly is undergoing a crisis and needs to quickly find content pertinent to him.
Next steps
- Write descriptive page titles that clearly convey each page's focus. Users who rely on assistive technologies may not be able to use visual cues to determine a page’s purpose.
- Headings must clearly describe the topic or the following section. Use section headings to organise the content.
- Users should be able to navigate a website in multiple ways. Some options may include providing a sitemap, table of contents, linking between pages and a site wide search.
- Indicate changes in language, for example when including a foreign word in English text. This will help assistive technology users and people with cognitive disabilities to understand your content.
- Keep users within the same menu layout when navigating from page to page. Avoid the use of "micro-sites" which have a different or alternate menu layout.
References
Resources
- Information Architecture Basics(this link opens an external website)
- The Ultimate Guide to Information Architecture(this link opens an external website)