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Articles by Heather Hedden
Developing a hierarchical taxonomy (or set of taxonomies) involves a great deal of decision making regarding the kind of categories, the number of categories, the number of levels, the wording of the terms, etc. While taxonomy owners or stakeholders can provide some of the answers, they often leave a number of decisions up to the individual developing the taxonomy (the taxonomist), who “knows best.”
Web site designers and information architects take special care to design good navigational structures with hierarchies and site maps to aid users in navigating sites or intranets. However, because intranet users are repeat visitors, they are likely to be less interested in navigation and more interested in searching. The difference? Navigating means getting to know one’s way around a site, becoming familiar with the content in general, and knowing approximately where to find what. Searching involves trying to go directly to some specific piece of information. Once intranet users have garnered a basic lay of the land, they are much more likely to be searching for specific information than to be navigating about casually. Thus, a good search tool is essential for an intranet’s usefulness.
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