Book review: Information architecture, blueprints for the web
Categorised under: Book & product reviews, Information architecture
Information architecture
Blueprints for the web
Christina Wodtke
Christina is the founder of boxesandarrows, the best information architecture (IA) resource site on the web. My thanks go to her for creating this site, and also for writing this very useful book.
Right from the outset, Christina makes it clear that this book isn’t intended to enlighten the experts on the finer points of information architecture. Instead, it is clearly targeted at those not yet exposed to IA, including web developers and graphic artists.
The book starts by tackling many of the IA myths head-on, such as the “three clicks rule”, and the “7 plus or minus 2″ rule. She also takes aim squarely at the “gurus” of this world, with their rules and heuristics. I definitely found myself nodding in agreement throughout this section.
Having set the scene, Christina then works through the entire lifecycle of developing a website, outlining the challenges at each step, and presenting practical solutions and techniques.
The informal style worked well for me, as did the many examples and samples used throughout the book. Christina does much to de-mystify the field of information architecture, without glossing over the considerable challenges facing anyone looking to design the structure of a large website.
My only complaint is that I would have liked to see more detail on some of the techniques. For example, the basics of card sorting are presented, but without any supporting tips and tricks. I guess readers can reasonably be expected to hunt these details out in the pages of boxesandarrows.
In summary, if you are looking to get up to speed on better ways of designing and structuring websites, this is the book for you.
Overall score: 8/10
James Robertson is the Managing Director of 