[Sigia-l] Faceted classification/hierarchy

[Antony & Donna Maurer]

Hi IA friends,

I'm thinking about developing a faceted classification to assist 
users to find content on the Intranet I am about to redevelop (main 
reason because I'm not sure that I can develop a hierarchy that will 
suit the majority)

I have done lots of reading (thanks iawiki contributors, peterme & 
petermo) and have a pretty good grasp of what I want to do.  My 
boss' first reaction to some of the existing implementations 
(wine.com in particular) was that it took too many clicks to get 
where he wanted. My first thought was that it may take that many 
clicks to get through a hierarchy as well.

Has anyone done any usability testing directly comparing the two 
systems? If so, was a faceted classification really any more 
effective? Did users like it more? Did it take any additional training 
to help them overcome the hurdle of something different?

TIA

Donna Maurer