Site maps for web apps, vs for content sites?

2p attack:

I've dropped sitemaps for many of the reasons already
stated. They
take up *loads* of time for big sites, and for tiny sites
don't add
much to the clients understanding - chances are they're
just nodding
politely and looking at the watermark.

Instead, I'll kind of morph the site map and a content plan
to make a
working document that I can use (not the client) to keep the
site on
track. The 'map' is an excel spreadsheet showing any
parent/child
relationships but with annotations (such as a record of the
corresponding prototype filename, an overview of the
content, general
notes, image references, blah, blah, blah) and I can make
sure
everything is tidy and consistent (well, most of the time
 ).

When I fell into this game, sitemaps where the defining
characteristic
of the profession: I sitemap therefore IA(m) kinda thing.
But after
spending many hours playing around with different
presentations and
trying to decide between vast, dull and uninspiring
multipage maps and
quick, pretty and totally pointless one-pagers I gave up. Is
it just
me that feels a site map is becoming obsolete in the AJAX
landscape
anyway? Surely trying to fit this particular deliverable
into a world
of non-paginated web sites is a waste of time?

I do love them process maps though, and user paths diagrams,
and what
about a lovely hand-coded HTML wireframe, you gotta love
those eh?

I think I'll just go get a life...


Lou Hewitt.

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