{"id":455,"date":"2013-08-23T13:26:16","date_gmt":"2013-08-23T13:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seonthemon.com\/wp351\/?p=455"},"modified":"2013-08-27T21:42:06","modified_gmt":"2013-08-27T21:42:06","slug":"what-use-is-knowledge-that-i-cannot-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seonthemon.com\/wp351\/2013\/08\/23\/what-use-is-knowledge-that-i-cannot-name\/","title":{"rendered":"What use is knowledge that I cannot name?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It turns out that I have done information architecture<\/em> for some time now, but I never knew it.<\/p>\n

A young acquaintance is learning HTML, CSS and such. \u00a0I gave him Steve Krug’s classic handbook, Don’t Make Me Think<\/a>. \u00a0My young friend banged through the book in a day, and his cup running over, started going on about this, that, and the other, including at one point, ‘tabbed pages<\/em>‘. \u00a0After some confusion, I realized he was referring to a web page whose content was organized with tabs,<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A web page organized with tabs<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

rather than the tabs that most modern browsers offer.<\/p>\n

\"Tabs<\/a>

Tabbed Browser windows<\/p><\/div>\n

Unaccountably, the ‘tabbed pages’ triggered a thought that had not occurred to me before – the\u00a0‘tabbed page’ represents at least three different kinds of knowledge<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The users’ needs<\/h1>\n

Tabs in a web page exist for a reason. \u00a0They serve a purpose. \u00a0 Someone devised them to solve a problem. \u00a0What is that problem?<\/p>\n

Shoe store<\/h3>\n

A user is at shopping site. \u00a0Say, a shoe store.<\/p>\n

The store sells stuff that you can classify in categories that are familiar to, and expected by the user – Men, Women, Children, Casual, Formal, Outdoor, etc. \u00a0 Each category of shoes has more items than you can fit in the real estate available on a single web page.<\/p>\n

The shopper must be able to peruse any category that she is interested in. \u00a0 Further, regardless of where she is in the site, the shopper must be able to switch to any other category of shoes.<\/p>\n

Farm insurance policy<\/h3>\n

You own a large farm. \u00a0You have an insurance policy for the farm, which includes many individual coverages. \u00a0You have had the policy at the same insurer for several years. \u00a0 You want to log in to your insurance company’s web site, and see all available information on your farm policy.<\/p>\n

An insurance policy is characterized by many different kinds of information.<\/p>\n