Websites are buildings. An like all buildings they need an appealing architecture. Starting with organizing the content, designing the site interaction and ending with creating an interface that is easy to understand, the Information Architecture (IA) of a website becomes more and more important.

With her Book Information Architecture – Blueprints for the Web, Christina Wodtke gives an overview over the daily work and challenges an Information Architect has to face and provides some practical solutions to overcome these problems.

Basic principles of IA and the (outdated) rules some Gurus pray make up the first part. Discussing some old myths from the early days of the web (users don\’t read, users don\’t scroll an the seven items factor) Christina Wodtke shows how the users of today behave and how their understanding of a site has changed. She also provides some rules of thumb that should be considered when creating the blueprint for a website. Design your site for wayfinding, create an ergonomic design with a clear and logical interaction pattern and be consistent and consider given standards are just a few of the rules she explains in more detail.

The main part of the book describes the process of creating a solid architectural framework for a website. Balancing technology, business goals and user needs is the big challenge each architect has to fight. While the technology and the business topics can be defined where precise, the \”human factor\” needs some special attention. Designing navigation with the user in mind and help him to find his way through the site by organizing the content and topics in a structured way is the important step.

The book finishes with a step by step example on how to develop a good Infrmation Architecture thinking about all the steps described in the different chapters.

Conclusion: The book gives a good insight in the work of Information Architects. It is written in a very entertaining style and easy and informtaive to read. No dry theoretical words, just real practical advices.

Christina Wodtke, Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web, New Riders, October 2002, ISBN 0735712506