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

Mon Mar 13 10:32:06 EST 2006

With its latest release, Axure RP has delivered on almost all the pieces
that I have struggled with using multiple programs so far. It delivers
prototypes and functional specs that you can customize and put in your
template. I am getting proficient at it, but it offers a lot of flexibility.

-----Original Message-----
From: sigia-l-bounces at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-bounces at asis.org] On Behalf
Of Peter Van Dijck
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 9:05 AM
To: Stewart Dean
Cc: sigia-l at asis.org; donna at maadmob.net
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Open-source IA tool in the making

You might wanna study some of the other attempts that've been made at 
this and why they haven't really taken off.

I think one of the problems is continuity of documentation. With your 
prototyping tool (which it is, right?), I still need to deliver 
wireframes which might require a few things I can't enter in your tool 
and then I have to do them from scratch. So flexibility becomes very 
important: can I add notes and such easily? Visio sucks but it's general 
purpose, which I think is why we've been able to mold it into something 
useful for IA's. Just some thoughts..

Good luck!
Peter

Stewart Dean wrote:
> 
> Hi guys,
> 
> I'm really loving the sound of where this is going. The challenge of any 
> IA tool like this is taking on board all the different ways information, 
> functionality and experiences can be presented. I don't see the 
> hirachical / faceted issue as a problem as faceted views are just 
> hirachical views where the data appears in more then one place (to over 
> simlify).  the trick for the structure of the site to essentialy have a 
> hirachical base upon which different styles of content delivery can be 
> added to. The whole hirachy may just be two pages and a front page off 
> which a category based directory system launches (like dmoz or yahoo 
> used to be).  Or it could then launch into a faceted view or some other 
> form where dynamic data can shape the site.
> 
> So the guts of what I'm looking to do is to be build a brocherware site 
> in less than a day (grey site without content and graphic design), be 
> able to build simple web applications like a FAQ section or download 
> section quickly and cover all aspects like errors, what is static 
> instructional copy and what is article based and have the navigation 
> work as requested.
> 
> I see the framework being a rich web based application (web 2.0 or 
> flash) that has XML at it's core. I see it being made up of multiple 
> applications - one for site structure creation that ties into a template 
> creation tool and then a content editing tool with verison control and 
> maybe another app that ties into the site structure and template tool 
> for creating applications.
> 
> My view is it's best to walk before we can run and create an application 
> capable of producing a simple hirachical site. This would make it usable 
> from day one and then it could be expanded as demand is required but in 
> a modular way, so if someone wants to use it to turn topic maps into 
> pages (I've never done this so don't know how that would work) then they 
> can.
> 
> Above all it needs to have a great user experience - which in theory we 
> should be able to do better than an software engineer designed app.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Stewart Dean
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> From: "Donna Maurer" <donna at maadmob.net>
>> To: sIGIA-L <sigia-l at asis.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Open-source IA tool in the making
>> Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 22:48:06 +1100
>>
>> Cool, I think I get it, in concept at least.
>>
>> Not sure how I would actually design an IA structure that can flip 
>> between being a
>> hierarchy one minute and a faceted browse the next. But that's just 
>> detail ;)
>>
>> Donna
>>
>> On 13 Mar 2006 at 22:22, Alexander Johannesen wrote:
>>
>>
>> > The big thing is that the tool is content centric instead of
>> > management centric as a lot of the CMS'es usually are. I work with
>> > what I get; I don't delve into authorship, content creation,
>> > workflows, user management, processes, publishing rules and all that
>> > jazz. Some off the top thoughts ;
>> >
>> > - Less work ; simple XML that is the minimum you feel you need
>> > (usually means you can mock up a brand new site in 5 minutes)
>> >
>> > - Multiple views ; wireframes, prototypes, overviews, sitemaps,
>> > reports, graphs, all from the same data source, flip through them with
>> > tabs (or whatever other control we might think of)
>> >
>> > - Semantically rich XML input files ; you can test faceted, tagged,
>> > bold, brass, fiddle, simple or complex nagivation schemes with a click
>> > (basically, you can test each page/site/project with different
>> > navigation schemes; "test this site using facets. Now try normal 1/2
>> > and 3 level. Now try without breadcrumbs. Now try with only level 2's"
>> > and so forth)
>> >
>> -- 
>> Donna Maurer
>> Maadmob Interaction Design
>>
>> e: donna at maadmob.net
>> work:     http://maadmob.com.au/
>> blog:     http://maadmob.net/donna/blog/
>> AOL IM: maadmob
>>
>>
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