Components of an information architecture can be split into four categories
- Organization System
How to organize information, for example, by topic or chronological order.
- Label System
How to represent information, such as scientific terms ("Acer") or a popular term ("maple").
- Navigation System
How to browse for information, for example, by clicking on a hierarchical system.
- Search System
How to search for information, such as a query that searches the index system.
the way of classifying information architecture Browse browsing Aids
These components will show some preset paths to the user to help them browse the site. Instead of having to articulate the contents of the query, users find out what they want through menus and links. Types of browsing helpers include:
- Organization system
The main ways of classifying or grouping Web content (for example, by topic, by task, by user, or by age), also known as taxonomies and hierarchies. Tag Cloud (based on user-generated labels) is also an organizational system.
- Total Station navigation system
The main navigation system helps users understand where they are on the site and where they can go (such as "breadcrumbs") on the site.
- Regional navigation system
The main navigation system helps users understand where they are in the subsite and where they can go in the subsite.
- Site Map/Catalogue
A secondary navigation system that supports primary navigation systems, provides a condensed overview and links to key content and subsites, usually in the form of a profile.
- Web site Index
An auxiliary navigation system that can provide a sorted list of links to the content of the site.
- Website Guide
A supporting navigation system that provides specific information for a specific topic and links to related subtopics in the Web site.
- Web Site Wizard
A supporting navigation system that can guide users through a series of steps, as well as links to related subtopics in the Web site.
- Situational navigation system
Use links to unify related content. Usually embedded in the text, is generally used to link the highly specialized content of the site.
Search Aids
These components allow the user to define a query string, and then automatically respond to a set of results that satisfy the query criteria to the user. Search helpers can be viewed as a dynamic, almost fully automated browsing helper. The types of search components are as follows:
- Search interface
The method of entering and modifying a search string usually provides some information that teaches you how to improve your query, and other ways to set up your search (for example, select from a specific search area).
- Query Language
The syntax of the search query. The query language includes Boolean operators (such as and, or, not), similar operators (such as adjacent, NEAR), or a method that specifies which field to search for (for example, author= "Shakespeare").
- Query Builder
Some ways to improve the query: Common examples include spell checker, stemming analysis, concept search, and extracting synonyms from dictionaries.
- Search algorithm
is a part of the search engine that determines which content can satisfy the user's query. Google's PageRank may be the most famous example.
- Search area
A subset of the site's content has been specifically indexed to accommodate more detailed searches (for example, technical support areas in the search software vendor's Web site).
- Search results
Displays content that satisfies the user's search criteria. What types of content are involved should be composed of individual results, how many results should be displayed, and how the results should be graded, sorted, and clustered.
