Most website designers put the focus of creating a website only on its visual appeal. While this is certainly important, focusing on how easy the website is to use, how simple it will be to change and expand in the future, and how search engine friendly it is can be even more important in the process of creating a successful website.
Building a website keeping these issues in mind depends on a designer well versed in site architecture. Under the creation of a web architect, websites achieve just the right balance between visual appeal, ease of use, functionality, and search engine friendliness. Think of web application architecture as being similar to the constructing a building. While beauty is important, strength and function make the building usable and long-lasting.
Drafting site architecture involves using the information gathered for your website. Although in digital form, these architectural structures resemble construction blueprints; also called skeletons. The goal of this phase is categorizing, organizing, and prioritizing how users will navigate through your website.
Good web application architecture involves making your website easy to navigate through site mapping, task flows, and wireframes. This results in a user centered website that saves money and produces results.
Site Map
Like a business organizational chart, a site map is a visual way of showing the organization of your website. In this step, a web architect names and arranges the pages of your website in a way that makes sense to both human users and search engines.
Task Flow
Similar to a site map, a task flow also shows how users will navigate your website. For example, a site map shows a block that represents the ‘contact us’ page, but a task flow shows what happens if the user interacts with that page. If they submit a contact form from this page, where will they go next? What happens if they experience an error? Site architecture plans for every option.
Wireframe
A grayscale digital skeleton, a wireframe helps a web architect visualize the layout of your website pages. Placeholder headlines, subheadings, text, images, navigation, advertising, and other content show where information will appear when users view your website.