Coming upon the task of creating a sitemap, and as usual I have to question everything. Really necessary? How does it relate to the other navigation already on the site? Why doesn’t a big site like IBM have one? How should I lay it out? Just links, or metainfo too?
Surfing paid off:
An interesting rundown on evolt.org sums it up thusly: Overview = navigation. Table of contents = sitemap. Index = searchengine.
Evolt links to an article on Mappa Mundi about Dynamic Diagrams with this quote: “I think web site mapping is bouncing back and forth between two poles: it is absolutely necessary and it is impossible.” I’ve never been crazy about Dynamic’s “Z-Factor” 3-D representation of pages, they’re neat but not all that informative. However, they have a good outline of a site map seminar with more info, sources, and examples.
And I remembered I compared a few site maps in my August 1999 blog.