Structural/Navigational Design Site View Viewing the project from a bird’s eye perspective is a chance to see how the site is organized and how the user will view the site from a content and informational perspective Blueprint or backbone that will shape the site during the development process Creation of site map usually occurs at this stage, which identifies how the content will be presented from hierarchical perspective. Some functional aspects may be shown, often through flowchart-like process flows. However, it is usually not a technical specification document

Building a Site Map Shows a high level view of the site, and should show main areas of content and a representation of all HTML pages and dynamic or database-driven areas within each section Site map should be based on the content outline, as well as any sketches or existing site maps the client may provide Always keep site map updated Structural/Navigational Design

Should be started early because navigation maps outline the connections or links among various areas of content and help organize content and messages Site map (navigation map) provides you with a table of contents as well as a chart of the logical flow of the interactive interface Structural/Navigational Design

Navigational Mapping A navigational map, or site map, can be combined with a logical flow definition, or can form a separate component of the design, depending on the type of presentation. The navigation map will outline the links between the scenes or content components, essentially defining the structure of the story that the presentation will tell. Structural/Navigational Design

There are 4 basic navigational structures that can be used for multimedia presentations, often in combination. 1. Linear Users navigate sequentially from one scene to the next. Structural/Navigational Design

Hierarchical Users navigate along the branches of a tree structure, defined by the natural logic of the content. Structural/Navigational Design

Nonlinear Users navigate freely through the content of the presentation, not constrained by predetermined routes. Structural/Navigational Design

Composite Users may navigate freely (nonlinearly), but are occasionally constrained to linear presentations of particular material and/or information that is most logically organised in a hierarchy. Structural/Navigational Design

From the initial specification, an outline can be developed: uses same basic technique as outlining content for an essay, identifying main sections of the content under specified heading, then identifying subsections and subsection headings within each section, and so on only major difference is that it translates the outline structure (the content entries) into branches (points of decision) on the screen thus the major headings in the outline become the options available to the user in the main menu of the program, subheadings form subsidiary menus on branched screens, etc this branching provides a halfway-house between the linearity of a standard film/video outline and the full hypermedia web, which includes lateral as well as hierarchical links. Structural/Navigational Design

Example of Navigation Map

From the specification and the outline, a logic flow chart is developed : provides a map of the proposed system, to support multimedia authoring illustrates the choices available to the user from each screen Structural/Navigational Design