Develop your site's structure
Think about some of the poorly-designed sites you've visited. Did the navigation seem like an afterthought? Were pages grouped in odd categories? These sites are a clear illustration of why structure is important. Intuitive structure lays the groundwork for effective navigation, which is the key to connecting users and information.
The best way to establish your site's structure is to map it out. There are three ways to do this: Notecards, flowcharts and scribbles.
Notecards
This technique involves writing names on notecards to create a large, moveable flowchart. The method gives you an aerial view of your site before you start building it.
Let's say you're building an entertainment site. You should begin by writing "Home" on a single card. This represents your home page. Next, write down the names of your sections -- one name per card. These names don't have to be set in stone, but try to make them as clear and encompassing as possible. Using the entertainment example, you would write "Film," "Books," "Music" and "TV" on individual cards. Lay these cards out in front of you.
At this point you have a pretty strong hierarchy, so think about the content you want to create and where it will fit. For instance, if you want to feature movie reviews, you should make a subcategory for "Film" titled "Reviews." The same goes for reviews in other sections: "TV" --> "Reviews," "Books" --> "Reviews," etc.
You can get a sense of your site's hierarchy by laying the cards out like this:
If you run into content that doesn't fit, take a step back and reconsider the categories. For example, opinion columns might be geared toward all of entertainment rather than just one subcategory. Instead of trying to cram an "Opinion" section under each category, you could place "Opinion" on the same level as "Film," "Books," "Music" and the others. That way, opinion columns can logically span all of your sections.
You should move the cards around a lot, tinkering with the order of the sections and looking for the most intuitive scheme possible. When you've reached a layout you're happy with, write the sections down on a piece of paper. This document is the blueprint for your site.
Flowchart
The process behind notecards and flowcharts is exactly the same except that one takes place in the tangible world and one is manufactured by a software program. If you're unfamiliar with presentation programs like Microsoft PowerPoint, you can avoid their moderate learning curve by using notecards. But if you're comfortable with PowerPoint, flowcharts can be quite helpful.
To use this method, fire up your presentation program and draw a number of boxes. Continuing with our entertainment site example, label one box "Home" and assign section names to the other boxes: "Film," "Books," "Music," and "TV."
Continue by creating subcategories. For example, if you're going to include movie reviews, label a box "Reviews" and place it under "Film."
You can switch categories around and experiment with different orders by moving boxes. When you find a layout you're happy with, save the document and print it out. This chart will be integral to your site's building stage.
Scribble
This method of organization is considerably less anal than notecards and flowcharts, but it's only recommended for people who can make sense out of a page of random notes. If you're one of these lucky folks, simply sit down with a paper and pen and write out the names of the sections and the content you want to create. Draw lines, cross things out, write in the margins -- whatever works. The only thing that matters is that you're putting your site together in a way that's intuitive and user friendly.
And in case you're questioning the viability of the Scribble method, Flak Magazine -- a smartly designed, top-notch site -- was conceived on the back of a truck stop placemat.
