[Sigia-l] Site maps for web apps, vs for content sites?

[Jonathan Baker-bates]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stewart Dean [mailto:stew8dean at hotmail.com] 
> Sent: 13 February 2006 15:52
> To: Jonathan Baker-bates; sigia-l at asis.org
> Subject: RE: [Sigia-l] Site maps for web apps, vs for content sites?
> 
> You can't build 
> a website purely based upon facets, for example.
> 

Not sure what your point is there, but I'll let it go.

> So, if you don't mind me asking again, if you don't use a site map to 
> communicate how the site works then what are you using?

I *do* use site maps, but I think you're asking why I don't use them for
anything other than a general overview. 

The best I can do to answer your question is respond with the eternal
"it depends." The project I'm on right now has a team of about 40 across
three countries (two outsourced development shops, one internal, the UX
and PM work being done internally by us). Six months into the project
and we've not felt the need for a site map. At least, I've not felt the
need, and the only person to ask for one was the main stakeholder, but
they forgot about it pretty soon and haven't asked for one since. The
project I was one before that (for BT Wholesale Markets, due to go live
this week as it happens) did have one, but again it wasn't much more
than a summary of what was going on in the IA. The meat was in a massive
spreadsheet with lots of interesting columns, which was then used to
create an XML schema that formed the actual content spec for the site.

To document system behaviour there's the old wireframes supported by the
occasional prototype (on paper then via Fireworks to HTML) with some
usage scenarios backed up by the big guns: flow diagrams referencing use
cases coupled with business logic rules, UI messaging catalogues, data
dictionaries... But no sitemap. Why bother? 

Jonathan