1. Chapter 1 What Makes a Web Site Work

   1. Consumer Sensitivity Boot Camp

   2. If You Don’t Like to Exercise...

2. Chapter 2 Introduction to Information Architecture

   1. The Role of the Information Architect

   2. Who Should Be the Information Architect?

   3. Collaboration and Communication

3. Chapter 3 Organizing Information

   1. Organizational Challenges

   2. Organizing Web Sites and Intranets

   3. Creating Cohesive Organization Systems

4. Chapter 4 Designing Navigation Systems

   1. Browser Navigation Features

   2. Building Context

   3. Improving Flexibility

   4. Types of Navigation Systems

   5. Integrated Navigation Elements

   6. Remote Navigation Elements

   7. Designing Elegant Navigation Systems

5. Chapter 5 Labeling Systems

   1. Why You Should Care About Labeling

   2. Labeling Systems, Not Labels

   3. Types of Labeling Systems

   4. Creating Effective Labeling Systems

   5. Fine-Tuning the Labeling System

   6. Non-Representational Labeling Systems

   7. A Double Challenge

6. Chapter 6 Searching Systems

   1. Searching and Your Web Site

   2. Understanding How Users Search

   3. Designing the Search Interface

   4. In an Ideal World: The Reference Interview

   5. Indexing the Right Stuff

   6. To Search or Not To Search?

7. Chapter 7 Research

   1. Getting Started

   2. Defining Goals

   3. Learning About the Intended Audiences

   4. Identifying Content and Function Requirements

   5. Grouping Content

8. Chapter 8 Conceptual Design

   1. Brainstorming with White Boards and Flip Charts

   2. Metaphor Exploration

   3. Scenarios

   4. High-Level Architecture Blueprints

   5. Architectural Page Mockups

   6. Design Sketches

   7. Web-Based Prototypes

9. Chapter 9 Production and Operations

   1. Detailed Architecture Blueprints

   2. Content Mapping

   3. Web Page Inventory

   4. Point-of-Production Architecture

   5. Architecture Style Guides

   6. Learning from Users

10. Chapter 10 Information Architecture in Action

    1. Archipelagoes of Information

    2. A Case Study: Henry Ford Health System

11. Chapter 11 Selected Bibliography

    1. Information Architecture

    2. Organization

    3. Navigation

    4. Labeling

    5. Searching

    6. Strategy and Process

    7. Usability

    8. General Design

1. Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal featured on the cover of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web is a polar bear (Ursus maritimus). Polar bears live primarily on the icy shores of Greenland and northern North America and Asia. They are very strong swimmers, and rarely venture far from the water. The largest land carnivore, male polar bears weigh from 770 to 1400 pounds. Female polar bears are much smaller, weighing 330 to 550 pounds. The preferred meal of polar bears is ringed seals and bearded seals. When seals are unavailable they will eat fish, reindeer, birds, berries, and trash.

Polar bears are, of course, well adapted to living in the Arctic Circle. Their black skin is covered in thick, water-repellent, white fur. Adult polar bears are protected from the cold by a layer of blubber that is more than four inches thick. They are so well insulated, in fact, that overheating can be a problem. For this reason they move slowly on land, taking frequent breaks. Their large feet spread out their substantial weight, allowing them to walk on thin ice surfaces that animals weighing far less would break through. Because food is available year-round, most polar bears don't hibernate. Pregnant females are the exception, and the tiny (one to one and a half pound) cubs are born during the hibernation period.

Polar bears have no natural enemies. Their greatest threat comes from hunting, but in the past 15 years most governments have placed strict limits on the hunting of polar bears. Their population has more than doubled in that time, and is now estimated to be between 21,000 and 28,000. They are not considered to be endangered. They are extremely aggressive and dangerous animals. While many bears actively avoid human contact, polar bears tend to view humans as prey. In encounters between humans and polar bears, the bear almost always wins. Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book, using a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. The cover layout was produced with QuarkXPress 3.3 using the ITC Garamond font. Whenever possible, our books use RepKover, a durable and flexible lay-flat binding. If the page count exceeds RepKovers limit, perfect binding is used.

The inside layout was designed by Nancy Priest and implemented in FrameMaker 5.0 by Mike Sierra. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. The screen shots that appear in the book were created in Adobe Photoshop 4 and the illustrations were created in Macromedia Freehand 7.0 by Robert Romano. This colophon was written by Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary.