Information Architecture for the World Wide Web

BUY THIS BOOK

Safari Books Online

Looking to Reprint this content?

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Second Edition Designing Large-Scale Web Sites

By Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville
Second Edition August 2002
Pages: 486
ISBN 10: 0-596-00035-9 | ISBN 13: 9780596000356
(Average of 1 Customer Reviews)

This book has been updated—the edition you're requesting is OUT OF PRINT. Please visit the catalog page of the latest edition.

The latest edition is also available on Safari Books Online.

Book description

Want to design distinctive, cohesive web sites that "work"? This bestseller teaches you how to blend aesthetics and mechanics for web sites and intranets that are easy to navigate and appealing to your users, scalable and simple to maintain. Most books on web development concentrate on either the graphics or the technical issues of a site. This book focuses on the framework that holds the two together.
Full Description

Today's web sites have moved far beyond "brochureware." They are larger and more complex, have great strategic value to their sponsors, and their users are busier and less forgiving. Designers, information architects, and web site managers are required to juggle vast amounts of information, frequent changes, new technologies, and sometimes even multiple objectives, making some web sites look like a fast-growing but poorly planned city-roads everywhere, but impossible to navigate. Well-planned information architecture has never been as essential as it is now. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition, shows you how to blend aesthetics and mechanics for distinctive, cohesive web sites that work. Most books on web development concentrate on either the graphics or the technical issues of a site. This book focuses on the framework that holds the two together. This edition contains more than 75% new material. You'll find updated chapters on organization, labeling, navigation, and searching; and a new chapter on thesauri, controlled vocabularies and metadata will help you understand the interconnectedness of these systems. The authors have expanded the methodology chapters to include a more interdisciplinary collection of tools and techniques. They've also complemented the top-down strategies of the first edition with bottom-up approaches that enable distributed, emergent solutions. A whole new section addresses the opportunities and challenges of practicing information architecture, while another section discusses how that work impacts and is influenced by the broader organizational context. New case studies provide models for creating enterprise intranet portals and online communities. Finally, you'll find pointers to a wealth of essential information architecture resources, many of which did not exist a few years ago. By applying the principles outlined in this completely updated classic, you'll build web sites and intranets that are easier to navigate and appealing to your users, as well as scalable and simple to maintain. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition is a treasure trove of ideas and practical advice for anyone involved in building or maintaining a large, complex web site or intranet.

Browse within this book

Cover | Table of Contents | Colophon

Featured customer reviews

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition Review, August 26 2003

Rating:

Submitted by Alex Belt of the Columbia Java Users Group [Respond | View]

The title of this book is a bit misleading, I thought it should be the caption at the top of the front cover, Designing Large Scale Web Sites. While the authors do a good job at covering a large amount of material, I was disappointed that most of the material was a cross between design information and usability. A lot of the information is available in other places, but if you haven’t done much reading on various design or usability aspects, this book does a good job of bringing together basic information from a number of different disciplines into one place.

The organization of the material was well thought out, topics were divided into logical sections, and built upon previous chapters when appropriate.If you haven’t done any work on a large scale project before, or aren’t familiar with usability, or have some areas that you need to know more about, this is an excellent book to look at. Otherwise, you may find a large portion of this book covering familiar territory, and that much of what is talked about is already company policy or common sense.

Read all reviews

Media reviews
"Any informed lay reader with an interest in the search process or information architecture should find the content interesting and informative...A feature of the book that impressed me is the care taken to explain terms and concepts. Readers don't need a degree in computer science to appreciate IA and this title does not assume any special background...If you are thinking of an IA career, this book is the best introduction I have seen."
-- Major Keary, Book News

"If I only had one book in my company's library it would be Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville's 'Information Architecture and the World Wide Web.'"
--Martin White, E Content, July 2004

"['Information Artchitecture for the World Wide Web'] is a reflection on the maturation of the profession as a whole, and of the self-examination and self-determination of information architects, as it has unfolded in the discussion groups, literature, journals, and professional meeting over the last four years...Rosenfeld and Morville elucidate the theoretical underpinnings of information architecture in order to extend that practice across a variety of settings and technological developments...[The authors] take a long-term view of information architecture, discussing it as an ongoing practice rather than a one-time project, emphasizing the value of iterative design, teamwork, and education...They discuss how to decide what needs to be done, how to do what needs doing, and what others have done."
--Lynn Boyden, The Library Quarterly, Vol. 73:3, July 2003

"'Information Architecture for the World Wide Web' explores site organization, labeling, navigation, searching, and metadata. While most books stop after discussion of the concepts in completing the tasks of the book, this book goes a step further to discuss the ideology in practice...one of the best written discussions of information architecture in today?s age."
--Wayne Graham, Williamsburg Macromedia User Group, May 13, 2003
http://fsweb.wm.edu/wmmug/reviews/output.cfm?id=164

Read all reviews

See larger cover

"If you are thinking of an IA career, this book is the best introduction I have seen."
--Major Keary, Book News