Comments on A Map-Based Approach to a Content Inventory

Patrick C. Walsh — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:51:14 GMT

Mabel,
Nice to know we think alike!
I agree that using this approach would have been too difficult and time consuming without Visio and the metro stencil. it allowed me to create my own elements and easily drag and drop, and copy elements from page to page. The best part is being able to save the maps as a web page and the true capability of the maps and the speed with which you can access sub-maps and linked webpages, wireframes or other documents becomes apparent. I have found that speed has been important during the re-organisation of my organisation’s website as I can try changes out and iteratively assess the consequences for the many pages that might be affected in a very short time, ensuring that I have all bases covered.
If you interested in seeing the map I am developing for my organisation please contact me at patrick.walsh@hertshighways.org.uk.

Patrick C. Walsh — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:38:45 GMT

Melissa,
Many thanks for your comments. As I stated in reply to Jamie I agree also that there may be many other ways to visually display relationships between pages that may speak to other audiences.
However Beck’s map has the crucial advantage of being a recognisable paradigm virtually world wide, so explanations/mistaken assumptions should be reduced to a minimum (I have just been attending EuroIA in Barcelona and needed to get around on the local transport. I had no problems in understanding the maps because they used a version of Beck’s map).
Hierarchies become quite clear once the maps reach a point where they can be saved as web pages and clicked through.
Some sites may not change much over time and an approach such as this may not be warranted. However for dynamic sites such an approach may yield dividends as the effect on other areas of the site of adding new content, categories, taxonomies etc can be assessed before any changes are made.

Mabel Ney — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:32:56 GMT

Great article! A few years ago, I used the New York City subway map as the inspiration for showing clients how personas would “travel” through the site map as they attempt to accomplish a given task in their continuum of interacting with the company and their web site. Each phase of the continuum was represented by a different color “line”. This helped the client visualize the most traveled paths in interacting with their customers and where the customer was likely to go next. This helped us prioritize critical content and reassess less traveled pages. Unfortunately it was a very time consuming effort and was difficult to update. Your article shows that is no longer a hurdle and makes me want to revisit this typeof documetnation. I wasn’t aware of the Metro template either! I’d be happy to share an example.

Melissa Robison — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:13:30 GMT

Excellent article. I’ve created many different types of site maps and content inventories in my day. It’s often a struggle to graphically represent the proposed IA in a stakeholder or client-friendly way and also tie that representation to all other phases moving forward (including maintaining a content inventory, development, and site evolution). And, of course, the actual conceptualization and ironing out of the IA/content structure can often be hindered by the very format we’re trying to use on a tight deadline.

The metro map stencil seems to be an excellent way to break out creatively from what I call “format jail” and build an IA and content inventory in a more flexible, free-form manner. I do agree with Jamie in that Visio elements and capabilities can be used to create other visual metaphors that may be more relevant to a client or project. For instance, some projects may require that the IA communicate hierarchy or relationships more clearly than the map can.

I also think you brought up a great point about needing to maintain documentation so that all previous decisions are not in one person’s head. While I’ve never yet been able to create a truly maintainable site map, I always keep an updated copy that reflects all decisions made prior to launch. Down the road, when systems start creaking at the seams again, I often use the original site map to remind myself and the team about the state of the previous site, good decisions made, old issues addressed, and the real successes of the current system.

Patrick C. Walsh — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 13:36:52 GMT

Noah,
Many thanks for your comments. A consistent approach was used for each page (‘direction of travel’ was from left to right, child pages horizontally across the page) but the biggest driver was getting all of the information on one page while still keeping it legible.
If I’m honest I never gave too much thought of the directions of the lines and I find your comments very thought provoking. I would not like to lay down too many ‘rules’ as I feel that the flexibility of the approach is one of its major strengths. However ‘rules’ would have to be agreed on each occasion that the approach is implemented to ensure consistency across the piece.

Many thanks for pointing me towards your thesis. I intend to give it some quality time.

Patrick

Noah Iliinsky — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 23:42:41 GMT

Hi Patrick,

This is an interesting approach. I really like the accessibility of the final map product.

I don’t know if you used consistent axes for each map and sub-map, but I’d be curious to hear how you chose directions for the various lines. My mental model says other intranet pages should be “sibling” pages, to the side (on a horizontal line), child pages should be below (on a vertical line), and external pages are “out there” (maybe at an upward diagonal). Of course number of nodes to manage will affect your layout approach. I do like the choice of colors for each line.

For deeper thoughts on diagram layout, please check out my master’s thesis, which is exactly about how to straighten up spaghetti diagrams: http://www.complexdiagrams.com/

Cheers, Noah

Patrick C. Walsh — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:43:56 GMT

Emily,
Sorry you are having trouble downloading the file. The basic stencil can be found in Visio under – File/Shapes/Map/Metro shapes.

Patrick C. Walsh — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:35:27 GMT

Jamie,
Thanks for your comments. I agree totally. The metro visuals work for me as I like the way that you can fit a lot of information onto a single page and it still stays comprehensible to me.
However I think you make a very good point. I feel that the right visual structure for a particular perspective can convey something really meaningful and the metro paradigm is probably just one of very many possible solutions. I work in enterprise IA and see examples every day of people using flowcharts, graphs and other visuals in inappropriate ways. But when they are used correctly they can be a very powerful tool.

Emily Thompson — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:22:32 GMT

I was unable to open the Visio file as well. Would you be willing to post the web page version of the tool?

Jamie Owen — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:13:15 GMT

It’s always interesting when several simple things are brought together to create a unique and eloquent solution to something that otherwise stymies us! (“Eureka!”). And the familiar metro visuals make your content management approachable to a great number of folks.

It seems to me that you could combine Visio elements and capabilities into all sorts of visual metaphors and inventions. One could indeed use your techniques on a traditional flowchart. Maybe you want to do something visual with less inherent linearity (like a metro map is), for example Dan Brown’s bubble diagram site map in which circles and distance indicate relationships (“Three Lessons From Tufte: Special Deliverable #6”). Or if the web site uses an interface that is itself is a metaphor for something, you could actually represent that metaphor in the hyperlinked sitemap—for example an interactive anatomy lesson in which the user clicks on a general region to learn about the systems in that part of the body. Machines or processes are also candidates for bringing the interactivity closer to the visual form it’s meant to provide content for. If nothing else, it may make it easier for the stakeholders to visualize the final form and understand the reasons behind the info organization.

Craig Kistler — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:42:46 GMT

Great article – I’ve always been a big fan of the Beck Map.

The steps below should help with saving a stencil.

With the stencil open right click on the title bar of the stencil then click save as. Make sure the stencil is saved with the .vss extension. You should then be able to save it off and link to it.

Craig

patrick c walsh — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 07:49:46 GMT

Cail,
Sorry that you couldn’t use the stencil. I’m not an expert in Visio. If anyone out there has the answer could you please post,

Patrick

patrick c walsh — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 07:48:02 GMT

Jonathan thanks for your comments,
We do use a CMS for the intranet but it is curiously not designed to manage content effectively. What the CMS churns out is a list of all my pages and some rudimentary data regarding review dates etc. I work in an area (roads and transport) where the information turn over is fairly high and I need to ensure that information is current and in the right places. A page or document may be linked to many other pages such as document lists, A-Z ’s etc and pages in other categories. The maps help me to visualise all linkages when changes need to be made or new documents inserted.
I will be maintaining the maps an an integral part of managing the intranet as periodic re-evaluations of the intranet will be required and events, such as major legislation, can have a profound effect on the shape of the system. Also, as stated, I think it would be of great help to anyone who suceeds me in managing the intranet.

Jonathan Baker-Bates — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:04:42 GMT

Interesting. A maintainable site map – a rarity in my experience!

You don’t say if you’re using a CMS for the intranet or not – are you? If you are, I’m curious as to why it would not be able to provide you with a basic content inventory (albeit not like this of course).

Also, I assume you will discard this tool once the intranet has been properly re-designed, is that right? Maintaining an external model of an intranet to allow people to understand the information space of that intranet would seem rather bizarre…

Cail Desrochers — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:27:09 GMT

Great article! I couldn’t get the stencil to work in Visio 2007 though :/