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  • Good Information Architecture

  • National Association for the Education of Young Children
    http://www.naeyc.org/
    • Persistent global navigation throughout entire website.
    • Task oriented flash banner on homepage, helps users click on most common task items.
    • Drop down menu feature on global navigation.
    • Local navigation support for second and third level pages.
    • Breadcrumb navigation for second and third level pages.
    • Search engine support, not great but it works. 
    • Nice site map for entire website.
    • Auto-suggest feature on search box would improve search box feature.
  • The White House
    http://www.whitehouse.gov/
    • persistent global throughout entire website
    • task oriented flash banner on homepage
    • drop down menu feature on global navigation
    • local navigation support for second and third level pages
    • breadcrumb navigation for second and third level pages
    • search engine has results filter by title, date, author and type. 
    • no autosuggest on search engine :(
    • faceted search results on the right column.
  • Sears
    http://www.sears.com/
    • search box has a robust variant term feature that allows variant search terms to bring up related matches.
    • search box has robust autosuggest feature.
    • search results page has a "quick view" feature that makes it easy for user to view more details quickly.
    • search results page has a compare feature to help user compare items.
    • robust faceted search tool bar on the left.
    • homepage has functional task oriented banner.
    • breadcrumb navigation for second and third level pages
  • IUPUI: Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
    http://www.iupui.edu/
    • search box provides filtering options for users -  this is a great feature when you have various types of information.
    • global navigation is persistent to most second level and some third level pages.
    • global navigation divides menu items and contains a marketing message.
    • global navigation provides a rich set of most common links - most common pages are just one click away.
    • a-z index
    • local navigation on most second and third level pages
    • persistent footer navigation 
  • Klune Industries
    http://www.klune.com/home
    • persistent global navigation throughout website
    • global navigation contains links and case study links
    • global navigation provides users one click access to most pages.
    • second and third level pages have helpful sidebar menu options
    • homepage banner images contains five marketing message, each with a link to more information.
    • good collection of product images - helps users identify services
    • clean design - very predictable 
  • Southwest Airlines
    http://www.southwest.com/
    • persistent global navigation - a lot of links that are nicely organized
    • destination and arrival city drop menu provides easy access to all airports at a glance
    • search result page allows user to easily modify flight dates
    • location specific - you see a different homepage banner depending on your city location
    • custom email alerts to cities you like to visit
    • hotel finder has a cool slider tool to adjust price
  • 1-800 Flowers
    http://1800flowers.com/
    • good faceted navigation
    • persistent global navigation
    • good labeling
    • predictable
  • Crutchfield New Media
    http://www.crutchfield.com/
    • good autosuggest search box
    • good global navigation
    • good search result filtering
  • New Mexico Children, Youth & Families Department
    http://www.cyfd.org/
    • Good global and local navigation
    • Homepage is nicely organized by task items.
    • Good content organization
    • Search engine could be improved by including best bets and autosuggust.
  • Movies.Com
    http://www.movies.com/
    • The search box has a great autosuggest feature that divides search terms into films and actors list.
    • Good content organization.
    • Good faceted searching in the In Home section.
  • Richmond American Homes
    http://www.richmondamerican.com/

    • Good faceted searching on "Find your home" section.
    • Global navigation allows users to quickly search for home in the area they are looking for.
    • Top of homepage includes information for secondary target audience (current home owners and realtor's).
    • Good content organization. 
    • Good site map.
    • Persistent global navigation throughout website. 

  • Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
    http://www.boozallen.com/
    • Persistent global navigation throughout website. 
    • Global navigation provides one click access to second and third level pages.
    • Breadcrumb navigation throughout website.
    • Local side bar navigation on all lower pages.
    • Functional flash banner - provides links to common user tasks.
    • Search results page allows users to filter returned results.
    • Great content organization for being such a large company. 
    • Site map seems to cover most website pages.
  • City of Westminster
    http://www.ci.westminster.co.us/
    • Great content organization for being such a large website.
    • Persistent global navigation.
    • Persistent local side bar navigation.
    • Breadcrumb navigation on all lower level pages.
    • Homepage provides users quick access to frequent pages.
    • Homepage content is well organized and well balanced. 
    • Good site map
    • Good a-z index page
    • Navigation and organization systems are consistent and predictable.  Predictability = Good Usability.
  • Center for Research Libraries
    http://www.crl.edu/
    • Persistent global navigation.
    • Persistent local category navigation.
    • Persistent breadcrumb navigation.
    • Detailed site map.
    • Quick Links allows for navigation to most popular pages.
    • A-Z directory.
    • Content is visually well organized.
    • Information is organized by audience and topic.
    • Recommendation: This site has a lot of content that is well organized but it would be nice if the user was presented related content tags. How does one page relate to other page within a different category.
  • Media Temple, Inc
    http://kb.mediatemple.net/
    • This website has a very smart knowledge base system.
    • Very nice search box feature. Best example of a autosuggest feature I have seen.
    • Good content organization.
    • The search box provides filter options.
  • Elluminate
    http://www.elluminate.com/
    • This is a web conferencing software company.
    • The site is well organized based on task completion.
    • Good persistent global navigation.
    • Persistent sub menu navigation  on 2nd and 3rd level pages.
    • Consistent content layout throughout website. 
    • Search results are broken up into categories inside of one long list of results. Very nice way to help user find what they are looking for based on context categories.
    • Good hierarchical site map 
  • Zappos - online clothing store
    http://www.zappos.com/
    • Good content organization.
    • Excellent faceted searching.
    • Auto-suggest search box. 
    • Alternate keyword search term support. 
    • Persistent global navigation.
    • Impressive site map.
  • Kent State University
    http://www.kent.edu/
    • Persistent global navigation for second and third level pages.
    • Persistent local navigation menu for second or third levels pages.
    • Breadcrumb navigation system for lower level pages.
    • Good content organization throughout website.
    • Good user-centered and task oriented content.  
    • The site is so well structured, it becomes a very predictable experience for end-users.
  • Clicker.com
    http://www.clicker.com/
    • search box has robust auto-suggest
    • well organized videos
    • good navigation
  • Enhancing Education
    http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/
    • persistent global navigation
    • accordion navigation allows users to view and access related section pages
    • breadcrumb navigation
    • related right column information to help users link to related content
    •  content is well written for the web - short and descriptive
  • USC Rossier School of Education
    http://mat.usc.edu/
    • Right navigation allows users to click on the most important links.
    • Persistent global navigation.
    • Navigation links are audience targeted.
    • Content is well written for web readers.
  • Samaritan's Purse is a Christian organization
    https://www.samaritanspurse.org
    • persistant global navigation
    • persistant local navigation on 2nd and 3rd level pages
    • related content menu on each 2nd and 3rd level pages
    • consisant content structure throughout website
    • the primary user actions (pray, give get involved) are located on each page.
  • National Center for State Courts
    http://www.ncsc.org/
    • Presistent global navigation
    • Global navigation allows users to drill down to lower levels with one click
    • Lower level pages have local navigation
    • Lower level pages have related content links
    • Homepage allows users to browse by topic, state, course, expert, and most popular 
    • Seach provides user with basic or advance features
    • Breadcrumb navigation on every page
    • Site collects user navigation hisotry "People who viewed this page also viewed"
  • The University of Tennessee
    http://www.utk.edu/
  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
    http://www.bls.gov/
    • persistent global navigation
    • fly out global navigation menu
    • breadcrumb navigation
    • persistent local navigation
    • a-z index
    • content is will organized
    • topic taxonomy 
    • footer navigation
  • Bad Information Architecture

  • Boeing Company
    http://www.boeing.com/
    • I'm more critical of large corporate websites because they have the money and other resources to have a professional website. 
    • Search box should have auto-suggest feature to help users access their information quicker.
    • Search results not very accurate, seems to be solely based on relevance. 
    • Search results page should have a "Best Bets" feature to control what information is displayed first based on particular search terms.
    • Search engine does not allow for content type filtering. This website has a lot of images and video so it would be a good idea to allow users to filter based on media types.
    • Related content does not link to each other.  Would be useful for users to see related content so that users can click on it.
    • This large corporate website has various content organization and layout formats. Boeing should have an enterprise content management (ECM) system to manage their public website. An ECM would provide more consistent content organization and navigation. It would also improving searching by allowing content editors to add metadata keywords to each content object. Content objects could then be connected together to help users find related objects.  
  • Brighton School District
    http://www.brightonps27j.k12.co.us/
    • This website has an unconventional navigation systems which causes confusion because users have to learn how it works instead of depending on a conventional navigation system that most people are familiar with. 
    • Second and third level pages do not have page headers to inform users where they are. 
    • No breadcrumb navigation to inform users where they are. 
    • Various font colors, styles and layouts makes it hard to read. Be consistent by having format and style rules.   
    • Homepage image banner does not serve a functional purpose - this is wasted valuable space. You can still have a nice image banner but make it serve a purpose.  For example, http://www.naeyc.org/
    • Information not organized by all audience groups (parents, staff, prospective parents, students, community, volunteers). This would make it easier for target groups to find what they are looking for. 
    • Search engine does not work most of the time. 
    • Search box should support auto-suggest feature. 
    • Search engine is the weakest feature on this website. 
    • The site map feature is not comprehensive for all website pages.
    • What is 27J? A very confusing title for a school for new parents. The website does not explain why the district is called 27J and it should. 
  • NMSU Library Website
    http://lib.nmsu.edu/

    • global navigation is not persistent throughout website
    • no local navigation for second or third level pages
    • a very large image on homepage that takes up valuable space and provides no user functionality 
    • no homepage  button or link
    • would be beneficial to have information organized by target audience (students, faculty, community)
    • would be more effective to  have the global navigation on top.  global navigation on top should have a drop menu navigation to support rapid one-click navigation which would eliminate the "more" link currently on the navigation. 
    • the search box does not provide auto-suggest terms to help people find the most request materials.
    • the search box search results does not provide filtering options according to type of information. 
    • no site a-z index or site map

  • Public Library - Farmington Hills, MI
    http://www.farmlib.org/
    • global navigation is not persistent throughout website
    • no local navigation for second or third level pages
    • homepage is very visually busy
    • no conventional homepage button or link
    • would be beneficial to have information organized by target audience (students, faculty, community)
    • no search box in the header section.
    • the search box does not provide auto-suggest terms to help people find the most request materials.
    • the search box search results does not provide filtering options according to type of information. 
    • no site a-z index or site map
  • Baker Street Pub & Grill
    http://www.sherlockspubco.com/
    • Built in flash - no direct page links to sub pages
    • No persistant navigation
    • User is forced to guess what icons are clickable
  • Ugly Information Architecture

  • Western New Mexico University Library

    http://voyager.wnmu.edu/

    • No global navigation.
    • Very unconventional homepage design causes user confusion and does not support proper navigation.
    • No site search.
    • No persistent navigation.
    • No site map or site index.
    • Poor design does not ensure user confidence with website. 
    • I do like the homepage search tool bar which allows a user to easily operate one of the four search systems. 
    • No content management system to control content publishing. Looks like web team uses html editor to manage website.
  • Town Of Leicester, MASSACHUSETTS
    http://www.leicesterma.org/
    • No persistent navigation.
    • Poor content organization.
    • No consistent content layout.
    • No search engine.
    • No sub navigation menus on 2nd or 3rd level pages.
    • Urgent need for content management system to support multiple sites.
    • Each child website has it's own outdated style, content layout and navigation. 
    • Outdated design  reflects that this government agency does not value website as a communication tool for public.  

This portfolio last updated: 09-Aug-2019 9:29 PM