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Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites, 2nd Edition [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Louis Rosenfeld (Author), Peter Morville (Author)
Key Phrases: search systems, phased rollout, pilot site, Best Bets, Whatever They Are, Find Similar (more...)

4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (106 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In Chapter 6 of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, the authors discuss the details of good search-engine design. In a bitingly humorous segment, they analyze a Web site's search-page results: "Let's say you're interested in knowing what the New Jersey sales tax is.... So you go to the State of New Jersey web site and search on sales tax. The 20 results are scored at either 84% or 82% relevant. Why does each document receive only one of two scores?... And what the heck makes a document 2% more relevant than another?"

With a swift and convincing stroke, the authors of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web tear down many entrenched ideas about Web design. Flashy animations are cool, they agree, as long as they don't aggravate the viewer. Nifty clickable icons are nice, but are their meanings universal? Is the search engine providing results that are useful and relevant? This book acts as a mirror and with careful questioning causes the reader to think through all the elements and decisions required for well-crafted Web design. --Jennifer Buckendorff --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Saul Wurman first used the term Information Architecture in his book of the same name. His book was mostly lots of really pretty pictures of media and webs compiled from a graphic design perspective; they were beautiful but never really dealt with the information end of things. Rosenfeld and Morville get it right. They show how to design manageable sites right the first time, sites built for growth. They discuss ideas of organization, navigation, labeling, searching, research, and conceptual design. This is almost common sense, which is often overlooked in the rush for cascading style sheets and XML. Essential reading for librarians and information managers who deal with the World Wide Web in any parts of their jobs.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

Paperback: 486 pages
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 2 edition (August 15, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0596000359
ISBN-13: 978-0596000356
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 1.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (106 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #80,161 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

#25 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Microsoft > Web Browsers
#62 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Hardware > Microprocessors & System Design > Computer Design
#69 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Graphic Design > Website Architecture & Usability

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
search systems, phased rollout, pilot site, metadata registry, similar pages, cataloging service, navigation system labels, information architecture strategy, ambiguous organization schemes, embedded navigation systems, exact organization schemes, case for information architecture, practicing information architecture, information architecture features, information architecture components, contextual navigation links, supplemental navigation systems, synonym rings, search log analysis, classic thesaurus, local navigation systems, information architecture design, iconic labels, global navigation bar, designing taxonomies

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Best Bets, Whatever They Are, Find Similar, Mon Dec, Presenting Results, Salon Travel, Designing Labels, Home Office, Variant Term, Varieties of Labels, Salon Mothers Who Think, Designing the Search Interface, Basic Basic, Peter Morville, Weather Channel, Andrew Sullivan, United States, Organization Systems, The Participation Economy, Related Term, Northern Light, User Research Sessions, New York Times, Palm Pilot, Timing Is Everything

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

5 books cite this book:

Developing E-Business Systems and Architectures: A Manager's Guide by Paul Harmon in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Testing Applications on the Web: Test Planning for Mobile and Internet-Based Systems, Second Edition by Hung Q. Nguyen on page 568
Testing Applications on the Web: Test Planning for Internet-Based Systems by Hung Q. Nguyen on page 349
Information Operations: All Information, All Languages, All the Time by Robert David Steele on page 256
Business Process Change: A Manager's Guide to Improving, Redesigning, and Automating Processes (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) by Paul Harmon in Back Matter

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Customer Reviews

106 Reviews

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4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(7)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last! A concise, practical guide to web site design!, March 3, 2000

By	John Leo Mencias (Belize) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (Paperback)

I had been looking around for a book like this for some time now: one that guides me through the crucial conceptual design phase of web site development. Most books on web site design are really about user interface design. This book offers a top-down planning approach to getting from the recognition of a need for a web site through to the final working design. It plugs up a lot of the gaping holes that topic-specific design texts leave open.

The over-riding concern and emphasis in the first section of the book is on how to organize the information on the web site in such a way that the target audience can readily get at it. To this end, the authors focus on three 'systems' that need to be developed, implemented and coordinated on a web site: a navigation system, a labeling system and a searching system. Once these systems are thought through and designed then the rest of the work becomes a matter of filling in the information content, functionalities and the bells and whistles.

Clear, concise and even a bit humorous, this book will definitely give you a peace of mind if you find yourself a bit overwhelmed at times when deciding on just how you will approach building a web site.

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42 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great 2nd Edition Update, June 22, 2003

By	E. Griffin (Wilton, CT, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great book to introduce business people to information architecture, for architects to reinforce their skills, and for web designers to principles to apply to site design. The second edition has more information and is more in depth than the first, and is well worth purchasing.

The first three chapters of the book explore what information architecture is and what it is needed. Chapters 4 - 9, the "Basic Principles of Information Architecture" have the most substance. Several chapters bear reading several times, including:

Chapter 5: Organization Systems, Chapter 7: Navigation Systems, Chapter 8: Search Systems and Chapter 9: Thesauri, Controlled Vocabularies, and Metadata

The sections on Process and Methodologyactice, and Organizational fit are all good for people learning about IA, but may be too basic for anyone that does a lot of work or reading in the field. The Education Chapter is already out of date, which is to be expected.

IA for the World Wide Web is a great book, worth reading and worth hanging onto for reference or to use to explain the IA to others.

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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book about Web design strategy on the market!, October 16, 2002

By	John Zapolski - See all my reviews

With the second edition, Morville and Rosenfeld have met a pretty significant challenge: surpassing their first book. The new edition is chock full of great new chapters on topics both technical and creative.

By covering subjects like thesauri, CVs, and metadata, while at the same time tackling headfirst "big picture" ideas of information architecture, the two authors are to be commended for writing a book that is at once instructive to advanced practioners yet still recommendable to strategists, designers, programmers, and others who might have only a vague notion of information architecture. And the chapter on business strategy is as good an introduction as I've read in any business book.

This book is the closest anyone has come to a single book addressing all of the complexity and challenges of organizing, structuring, and managing large scale Web sites, and does so with clear, easy-to-read prose eshewing jargon and consultant-speak. Quite an accomplishment, indeed!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Too Little Useful Information
Lot of text, nicely written, easy read, finished the book in one hour.

Not much useful

Gained almost nothing from the book. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Elar Alexander

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that defines a new field in the digital world.
I did not know the astounding amount of intersection between Library Science and Web Site Design until I read this book. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Leonard S. Woody III

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to understand
One thing I found great about this book is the way it backs up its arguments with proper evidence with real-time examples. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Khalfan

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal book on information architecture
I bought this book shortly before starting my new job as the webmaster for a division of the federal governement. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Melissa Mcavoy

4.0 out of 5 stars Good enough
This is a perfectly good resource, if you're looking for the theoretical underpinnings of how IA should work. Read more

Published 21 months ago by James C. Taylor

4.0 out of 5 stars Very In Depth Coverage of Information Architecture
There's a lot more to information architecture (IA) than you might realize until you read this. IA is particularly critical to the design of large web sites which can quickly... Read more

Published 22 months ago by Leslie Carter

5.0 out of 5 stars A lifesaver
As project manager, I was in a bind when our contract information architect failed to understand the complexities of our matrixed business model and client base. Read more

Published on June 21, 2007 by Kasha

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing Title (3rdEd)
In "Part I - Intro to IA," obviously the basics are covered, like what exactly is IA? What does an Information Architect do? Read more

Published on June 16, 2007 by Clint Pachl

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference
The topic of the Polar Bear is very defined and focused, and the book reflects this. It's a bit dry - reads much like stereo instructions - but for someone who is dedicated to... Read more

Published on June 11, 2007 by Jose Sierra

1.0 out of 5 stars Very biased book
In general, this book contains some useful yet common sense information. This book is more about how to become a talker than a worker. Read more

Published on June 1, 2007 by Rongkai Zhao

› See all 106 customer reviews...

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