[Sigia-l] Open-source IA tool in the making

[Alexander Johannesen]

Hi all,

I've had some difficulties getting people's opinions and suggestion in
other related threads, so I've started a new one and hope that people
could join in. The story is as follows ;

I've tinkered with a IA tool for some time (basically, building it for
my own purposes, tinkering with it as my work has taken it), and would
like input as to what people would like to see an IA tool do. Here's
what I've got so far ;

 - input XML definition file(s); sitemap, and templates (can be
general out-of-the-box as well as specifically defined for a section,
page, or widget/item)
 - output ( prototype | wireframe | sitemaps (partly or whole) |
interaction flow charts) through tabs at the top of each page/site
 - all output is XHTML 1.0 Strict with minimal semantics, styling through CSS

(I'll have to make a few general site examples before I put up a test
version for you to play with, but don't let the discussion stop
because of that :)

How would people like to take such a tool? A nifty simple GUI? How
should it be defined? Should it consider card-sorting stuff? Automagic
click analysis? Notation and annotated notes and documentation? A
comment system?

I know some would like this sort of tool for deliveries, but me
personally have designed it as a Design with a big D stuff tool in
which I can switch between different views of the site/application
with a click. Any ideas and thoughts?


Alex

PS: for the technically inclined, it's an XML / XSLT framework,
currently wrapped up in a little PHP (but could be any technology,
really). It uses semantically rich XML input and templating files
which are either general and specific. Supports as many sites/projects
as you like. Can export fully and import some Topic Maps (CSXTM
format).
--
"Ultimately, all things are known because you want to believe you know."
                                                         - Frank Herbert
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