Architecture of a Dynamic Web Site

Chapter 4 - Planning the Web Site
byGareth Downes-Powellet al.
Wrox Press 2003

Web sites are curious things; they all derive from the same, basic hierarchical structure. An entry point (the Homepage) that branches off into a number of subpages, each of which branch off or loop back to other pages, and so on.

Given this structure, the vast majority of web sites follow the same kind of navigational pattern. It is one that is long established, and has its roots in the earliest of web pages. Before the prevalence of images, movies, Shockwave, and other mediums, web sites were a strictly 'text only' affair, not at all exciting by today's standards, but revolutionary at the time.

With the upsurgence of different mediums, and of course faster connection speeds, it was soon possible for web designers to experiment with different forms, structures, and navigational components. Of course, experimentation is a necessary process, and one that is for the benefit of all (though judging by some sites you wouldn't always believe that).

One thing that seems to be a constant is the hierarchical structure of a web site, probably because the societies of the world are built on hierarchies, as our families, our places of work. In fact the more you look into it, the more you will see hierarchical structures, and it therefore seems logical that the web is presented in this way.

When considering a hierarchy in the context of a web site, there are a number of factors that we need to take into consideration. It must be simple; you must at all times know where you are, where you want to go, and where you have been. Many developers believe that if you have more than four levels to a web site's hierarchy that visitors soon lose interest in the site, get lost, or feel overwhelmed, and there is a good reason for this. Psychologically, hierarchies with more than 4 levels will tend to make you feel like a small cog in a big wheel, and given the "Virtual Store" example this is exactly what we don't want the visitor to feel, the visitor is a customer, and (forgive the cliché) the customer is King.

To better illustrate the steps towards achieving our goal, we shall be concentrating exclusively on the design and planning process behind our example web site, The Dreamweaver Hotel. Feel free to expand on these processes as you see fit for the development of your own web site.