During my time as a Web developer I have worked on the development of a number of Web sites, ranging from the small and static (5-10 pages) to the large and dynamic corporate sites that have hundreds of pages. What I’ve found to be consistent in all of these is the way the site map is handled. Now I’m not talking about the site planning or wire frame stage – these have all be well researched and thought out. No, I’m talking about the page you see on virtually every site, that link in miniscule-sized text within the header region – the “Site Map” link.
Maybe you have a similar process as what I experience. You’ve completed a project and the Web site is working great and it’s been handed off to the client for launch or review. Then we realize that there still needs to be a site map page created and normally this is just a quick two column layout (depending on the size of the site) that lists out every navigational link in the Web site.
Is this helpful? Sure, for search engine robots and SEO purposes there is definitely a need for this. But what about the average user – does this at all help them?
I’m looking at a recent site map we created for a client and my answer would have to be “NO”. For one thing, I’m forced to leave the current page I’m on in order to view the site map, as it is on a completely separate page. Second, there is no help information about all the different sections – its just a big jumble of links.
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to include the site map on every page and just use JavaScript to toggle it’s view? One site that has implemented this beautifully is CodeIgniter, a PHP framework. Within this site there is a user guide and at the top of the page is a pull down table of contents that you can toggle. This is extremely helpful as you don’t need to leave the current page you’re on – its just there for you to use when needed. Plus, it’s in a very obvious part of the page and has been graphically treated so that you don’t miss it. This is something that I would love to implement on future projects and I plan on doing so.
