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

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.

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60 Reviews

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3.9 out of 5 stars (60 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great foundational piece!, Mar 29 2002

BURTON A BARGERSTOCK (East Lansing, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-scale Web Sites (Paperback)

Rosenfeld and Morville's book makes, perhaps, its greatest contribution by presenting its potentially intimidating subject in a way that makes it accessible to virtually any reader. This is no small task and speaks as much about the authors' gift for writing as it does about their technical knowledge. In my office, this book has become foundational reading and I recommend it highly to colleagues or anyone interested in the presentation of information through the web.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Execllent for every new hand on web design, Jan 23 2002

CHENG HEI MUK (SAR China) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-scale Web Sites (Paperback)

The book gives very detail explanation how a good web page is and presents all material in systemtic ways without include a lot of jargon. The case is usefull and well link with the topics of the book. It is a good reference book for person who would like to develop a website by his own.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Slow and obvious, Sep 8 1999

fraser@speirs.org (Glasgow, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-scale Web Sites (Paperback)

This book may be OK if you've just been put in charge of an intranet and have never used the web before. If you have spent more than a week surfing the internet in your life, you will feel, as I did, that this book states and restates the blindingly obvious ad nauseum. I actually failed to finish this book, I found it so terribly dry and unenlightening. Another thing that really bugs me about it is that the authors pose question after question, but never really supply an answer. Sometimes they make tentative suggestions that this-may-work-then, but never many good examples. They also reference screenshots of one little area of a given website, but this doesn't work because (if you believe the basic premise of the book) a website is a coherent item, not a distinct set of pages. Therefore highlighting specific elements of a website out of context is meaningless. Better spend your time surfing the web and thinking for yourself why some sites work and some don't.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time
I expected more from Peter.

The book shows that many still don't know what an information architecture is and how to use it.

Published on Jun 18 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars Not too impressed
I was disappointed in this book, particularly because it has the O'Reilly imprint. It's too vague to be of much use, I thought. Not bad, but not very helpful, either.