Intranet Information Architecture (IA) (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox)
More pearls of wisdom from Jakob Nielsen about intranet Info Architecture:
Only three topics attained top-level navigation status on the majority of the intranets:
- human resources (HR) information (66%)
- company information, (63%)
- news (59%)
Whilst he found that information about departments or divisions was a top-level category in 46% of intranets, he points out that:
“In our study, task-based structures often endured better than intranets organized departmentally. In our user testing of intranets, we’ve also found that task-based navigation tends to facilitate ease-of-learning. Thus, the benefits for IA durability are just one more argument in favor of adopting a task-based structure for your intranet.”
He expanded on this by adding that manufacturing companies often have a product category in their top-level navigation, and companies that focus on intellectual property tend to have a top-level knowledge management (KM) category (he doesn’t give an example of what this might be though).
And a warning for management not to meddle:
“One change that can be disastrous for intranet navigability is requests from top management to change navigation labels to reflect the latest buzzwords or corporate fashions. “
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Tags: intranets
