What is Information Architecture?
Information architecture—or IA—refers to the set of techniques and tools used to navigate through a website.
It encompasses the menus, links, page titles, and other elements that allow users to move from one part of the website to another and find the information they are looking for.
Creating an effective information architecture for a university website requires careful consideration of the diverse needs of various user groups, including prospective students, current students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
Effective website navigation should be intuitive, easy to use, and structured logically to help users quickly understand:
- Where they are
- How to get to where they want to go
- How to return to where they started if needed
Information Architecture and Your Drupal Site
The University Marketing and Communications team at Case Western Reserve University continues to conduct thorough user research to understand the primary user groups typically visiting our university websites so we can better understand their goals. As we create the Drupal templates, we use this research as well as industry best practices to help create a user-friendly and effective information architecture that supports the diverse needs of your stakeholders.
The main components of information architecture on your Drupal site help guide users through your content, and are essential for ensuring the smooth navigation of your website and the information you have to offer.
It’s important to consider each of these components before you craft your website content, so that the building and maintenance of your website can go as quickly and effectively as possible.
Main Navigation
Main navigation on a website refers to the primary set of links or menu items that guide users to the most important or frequently accessed sections of the site. On your CWRU Drupal website, it appears at the top of the site, highlighted in a gray bar with each page title of your main navigation separated. This serves as the primary way for users to explore and interact with the content.
Secondary pages, or child pages, are visible when you hover over the main navigation items.
Left-Hand Navigation and Secondary Navigation
Left-hand navigation is a design pattern commonly used in websites and applications. It refers to the placement of a navigation menu or panel on the left side of the screen. This navigation bar typically contains links or buttons that help users find their way around different sections of your Drupal site.
Though your secondary navigation is visible when you hover over the main navigation, any pages that are nested at the third level or beyond are visible in the left-hand navigation when the secondary pages are selected.
Nesting your pages properly and having working left-hand navigation is an important tool to prevent wayfinding issues on your website. For our case.edu websites, it’s also critical to ensuring the website performs well on mobile devices or smaller screens.
Please note: When you click on an internal page, the labels you see on the left-hand side reflect pages on your website.
Page Titles
Page titles play a crucial role in information architecture by helping users and search engines understand the content and purpose of a page. They help users quickly understand what a page is about, allowing them to navigate more efficiently.
Page titles are a significant factor in search engine optimization (SEO). Descriptive and relevant titles help search engines understand what the page is about, improving the page’s chances of ranking well in search results.
Page titles should be predictable and related to the content on the page. For pages that appear in your main navigation, page titles should be short and have the same tone of voice. Predictable and well-structured titles contribute to a more coherent user experience, as users can anticipate the type of content they will encounter based on the title.
Please note: In order to effectively utilize the full benefit of your page titles, your title should match your navigation label as well as the text that appears in your URL string.
Headers
Headers play a crucial role in information architecture by providing a structured framework for organizing and presenting content. They allow users to quickly scan and locate the information they need without having to read through all the text.
From an SEO perspective, headers help search engines understand the structure and main topics of your content. Proper use of headers can improve search engine rankings and ensure that relevant information is indexed correctly.
For more information on making sure your headers are structured in an accessible way, please visit the digital accessibility guide on headings.
URL Structure and Breadcrumbs
At CWRU, our goal is to ensure a connected, seamless experience for all users who visit case.edu websites. This means that we provide URL structures and breadcrumbs to help users know:
- Where they are on our websites
- Where this page is in relation to other pages on the website
- Where this page is in relation to the university
In order to ensure your website is using the proper URL and breadcrumb structure, each page needs to be nested properly. For more information on how to properly nest pages please visit our training guide for help.