Site Maps

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Todd
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Site Maps

Post by Todd »

You guys remember when sites had site maps back in the day? They were essentially directories, listing every page on a site. What were their purpose? How were they relevant? I can't imagine making one for one of my sites today.
Larissa
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Re: Site Maps

Post by Larissa »

They're incredibly useful for sites that don't have traditional navigation, or sites that are particularly image-heavy. I made one for my Squall site because while the front page navigation is great if you're planning to read through it in one go, the individual pages only link to the next page in order. So I stuck a link to the sitemap in my footer, along with my index link.

As there's no room n the index page to say what each page is about -- nor would I want to put it there -- the sitemap allows visitors to get a little more information about the content before reading further, should they wish to.

As I mentioned above, sitemaps are also useful that rely heavily on image navigation, particularly when so many people navigate the web through touch-enabled devices. It can be difficult to click that one little clickable box on a layout versus scrolling through a sitemap to figure out where you want to go. For this reason, even though I often have image-based navigation, all of my sites include links to the major content sections in the introductions. (Even when not on a phone or mobile device, sometimes it's just easier to click a link in a paragraph versus figuring out what's clickable on a layout, as well.)
tonight fate is the
Destinie
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Re: Site Maps

Post by Destinie »

I think that, from a usability standpoint, if your site's navigation is intuitive enough there is really no need for a site map. Meaning that you have straightforward menus, pages are distinctly labeled and clearly organized, and it is always easy to access.

But I agree with what Larissa said: if you forgo traditional navigation or your site is image-heavy, it could be useful.
dubiousdisc
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Re: Site Maps

Post by dubiousdisc »

Larissa and Destinie pretty much said everything, but I'm just chiming in to say that sitemaps are also still very used on big sites with branched navigation! Next time you are on some sort of Large Corporate Website chances are that you'll see one.
Todd
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Re: Site Maps

Post by Todd »

You guys make good points. Maybe I should try using them for some of my sites.

I remember back in the day when people had graphic-heavy layouts, they had "heavy" and "lite" versions, though mostly for loading time, not so they could be viewed on mobile devices. That brings up another good question -- should we be considering the mobile-device browser when we make sites? And if so, what extent should we go to accommodate him? Do you guys make layouts specifically for mobile devices?
Larissa
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Re: Site Maps

Post by Larissa »

I make my sites so they can be navigated with images off, but given the wide range of mobile devices available today I don't bother making extra layouts. I do use FontSquirrel whenever I use embedded fonts, because the @font-face kits it provides work across most devices.

But given that people browse the web on phones and tablets alike, there's really no way to make one-size-fits-all layouts anymore. I find it's easiest to conform to web standards and hope I don't hit any weird bugs in the process, and most of my sites will look fine across devices. Your mileage may vary.

Sidenote to the sitemap discussion, and relevant to mobile devices: my biggest pet peeve is when a site with drop-down menus doesn't make its top link clickable. When you're on a phone it can be very difficult to click anything on a drop-down menu, so in cases like that a sitemap is the only way at all to get around a site. (For an easy example of what I mean, TFL.org has drop-downs, but it'd be easier if the top links were to a list of all the pages under that heading in case you're on mobile. They do also have a sitemap, though.)
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Destinie
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Re: Site Maps

Post by Destinie »

I'm all about use cases. I know I like to read shrines on my iPhone but am not sure if anyone else does???
dubiousdisc
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Re: Site Maps

Post by dubiousdisc »

I try to be as phone-friendly as possible, but I don't really put in a lot of effort towards that. Some layouts will not be perfect on phones, but as long as it's not horribly broken, I'm fine. It's a fansite and I don't think a lot of people have a particular NEED to read a fansite on a phone, but I might be mistaken.
Larissa wrote:Sidenote to the sitemap discussion, and relevant to mobile devices: my biggest pet peeve is when a site with drop-down menus doesn't make its top link clickable. When you're on a phone it can be very difficult to click anything on a drop-down menu, so in cases like that a sitemap is the only way at all to get around a site. (For an easy example of what I mean, TFL.org has drop-downs, but it'd be easier if the top links were to a list of all the pages under that heading in case you're on mobile. They do also have a sitemap, though.)
I was having a discussion about dropdowns yesterday and man, bad dropdowns need to die for many reasons. The worst I've seen is some tumblr layouts with these tiny dropdowns with text at font size 7px that have all of their links in there (the ask page, tags, etc.), I can barely see them on a laptop screen and they make me so angry because it's JUST FIVE LINKS, was there even a need for a dropdown?! And now that I'm thinking of it from a smartphone perspective, that must be HELL. D:
Mikari
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Re: Site Maps

Post by Mikari »

The section pages of some of my sites are kind of like site maps in a sense. Not maps of the whole site but for example under information, I'll have a sentence to describe each page, rather than just the page tittle and so on. Because of that I don't really dedicate an individual page to a site map, though I can see it being done for site with different navigation styles.

I don't think a lite version is really needed anymore since people generally have good enough connections, but mobiles are becoming more common. I check my site and make sure it works on the ipod. Though I make it to look the same on all screen, thus if you're looking at it on a phone you'll have to zoom in to read. I'm not fond a mobile specific layout because they seem very simply without graphics and effects, just the basics to get the content out there and the layout and graphics are my favorite part. I'm just happy to have the layout look the same, as long as it's not messed up or oddly different, I figure people know how to zoom in. I do try to make links easier to click though, spacing them out or encasing them in shapes where the whole shape is a link, since fingers are not as precise as cursors.

I thought drop downs were easier on mobiles, but I'm guessing yours doesn't automatically convert them to the wheel thingy on the bottom of the screen and leaves them as actual drop downs? That does sound inconvenient, especially if it has a lot of options. O.o;;
Cherri
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Re: Site Maps

Post by Cherri »

I have site maps one a few sites. Like my character studies, Gentle Baker and Blazing Dynamo. Because they aren't the "normal" type, I wanted people to be able to know what was going on. I agree with Larissa, they are nice for non traditional sites.

I look at sites on my iPad because I'm not always on my laptop. So if they work on that, I'm pretty happy. Though they aren't specifically made for it.
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