The Secret to Building Large Websites Website Architecture

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Jun 5 2013 by Nikita Semenov | 14 Comments

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The Secret to Building Large Websites:

Website Architecture

When I started writing this, the idea of a skyscraper construction project came to

mind.

I thought of a huge skyscraper with restaurants, retail stores, offices, gyms, and

residential spaces a large self-contained, compact community all by itself.

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The Secret to Building Large Websites: Website Architecture 13/06/2013

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Source: Bernt Rostad

No one would ever start the construction process of a skyscraper like that until

everything is properly planned and drawn out.

Source: Steve Newfield

Im not a building architect or construction contractor, but I can still see the

innumerable requirements you need to draw out before proceeding to construction.

Room planning details, sourcing of good construction materials, managing the different

teams involved in the buildings construction, zoning permits, funding allocation,

natural disaster planning in case of earthquakes, the list goes on.

Everybody considers design as an important component of things; whether its the

design of a skyscraper or the tires of your car.

Design is about not only bringing convenience, innovation, and comfort into peoples

lives, but also in many cases such as skyscrapers and your car tires, peoples lives and

safety becomes dependent on it.

Im not an architect.

Im an IT person. Im a concept designerto be more exact.

For years, Ive been designing strategies and c onducting research for very large,

ambitious website projects.

Concept design is the foundation of a robust website architecture. Like in the

construction of a skyscraper, you need to have a sound blueprint for building large-

scale websites.

In this article, Ill share our companys process for architect ing large websites.

The Website Architect

Lets first figure out whose role it is to do this thing called website architecture.

To me, this job is carried out by a website architect.

I deliberately avoid mentioning UI/UX designers and the IA guys here because website

architecture goes beyond or rather encompasses the user interface, user

experience, and information architecture of the site.

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,

knowledge of web development tools, online marketing technologies, and everything

else involved in the c onstruction and maintenance of a website.

Just like an architect of a skyscraper or a residential home, she must be well-versed

with the tools, materials, and processes of construct ion in order to plan the product

efficiently and effectively.

This person, our website architect, should possess st rong logical thinking, has an

analytical mind, is smart with c ommercial aspects of websites, and be attentive to

details.

Of course, for a guaranteed quality product, the architect can/should consult other

specialists: designers, developers, etc.

As you see, the ideal web architect in my mind should be a broad specialist, because,

as youll soon see below, theres no getting away from that.

Overview of the Website Architecture Process

Ill give you just a general overview of my companys website architecture process.

The process is divided into these 11 stages:

1. Project Brief

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2. Website Goal Definition

3. Define the Target Audience

4. Competitor Analysis

5. User Goal-Problem-Solution

6. Scenario Mapping

7. Mind Mapping

8. Information Architecture

9. Prototyping

10. Prototype Usability Testing

11. Project Specification

As you can see, all these stages are related to each other, and weve organized it in a

sequential manner.

Lets discuss each stage.

Stage 1: Project Brief

Gathering the needed data from the client and your team can usually take 2 days.

Though you should be as thorough as possible, also keep in mind that theres always

room for elaboration and additional data-gathering in the other stages of the website

architecture process, so dont get too off-track if some pieces of information havent

been transmitted to you.

Determine Goals and Expected OutcomesWhat is the clients goals and expected outcomes of this project, and how does she

envision the end result of the project?

You should be clear about the evaluation criteria of these goals and expected

outcomes to make sure youre both on the same page.

You have to be as specific as possible; goals and outcomes should be quantifiable and

measurable.

Brainstorm with the Client

Ask the c lient to tell you everything he has on his mind. Listen to what he says

patiently and thoughtfully. Take notes. Focus on what theyre saying and resist the

urge to chime in. Your ideas and remarks can wait.

If the client is passionate about his ideas for the project, he can spend hours talking

about it, which is completely normal.

When the c lient is really into the project, hes a great help and pleasure to work with.

Client Idea Summary

At the end of your brainstorming session, you should ask the client to sum everything

up if he succeeds in boiling his idea down to one sentence, then the idea is clear. If

not, you will need better clarity and focus.

Determine the Target Audience

Who is the c lients target audience? Whos going to use this site, and how might they

benefit from the site?

The client should have a clear idea of who the end user is, so that we can produce awebsite for them. Otherwise, its like playing darts with your eyes closed: You know

where the target is, but its going to be nearly impossible to hit it.

You can also start discussing what the client already knows about their target

demographic: gender, age, location, etc.

Determine Competitors

Who are the websites direct and indirect competitors? The client and the website

architect should be aware of the existing competitive environment.

There are always competitors. Even if the websites idea is completely unique, there

are at least indirect competitors.

Meet the Decision MakersMeet with the people who make decisions. Discuss the deadlines, the budget limit,

resource availabilities, and so forth.

Organizational matters, matter.

Results and Deliverables




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Some of your other questions will need to wait to be answered later on in the website

architecture process. What you get out of the project briefing stage will be basic data

and just to get a general feel of what your client already knows about his project.

Its crucial to understand the clients needs and expectations at this early stage, and

to choose the right direction for the project right at the starting line. The price you

pay for not giving enough time to this simple but critical first stage exponentially grows

as the web architecture process and website production progresses.

A project brief template. Source: docstoc.com

The deliverable of the briefing stage is a written document with detailed information

given to you by the c lient and the dec ision-makers. This document should be approved

and verified by the client. It can be in the form of a design brief.

Stage 2: Website Goal Definition

A website needs goals. The clients goals might be these: to monetize the site, to

increase the offline market share through online marketing, to better engage

customers online, and so forth.

The goals define the direction of the entire website production process.

Besides determining the websites goals, you also need to define success criteria

according to the client.

A good way to establish goals is by using the SMART criteria. That is, each goal should

be:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time-bound

For example:

Generate $50,000 income within 5 years through ads, information products likee-books and paid subscription plans

Assist users in making a choice of what pet to own

Provide users with advice on pet issues

Create a marketing platform for pet products


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteriahttp://sixrevisions.com/web-development/a-6-step-general-process-for-producing-a-website/http://designinstruct.com/articles/project-management/client-design-brief-questions/http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2628263/Project-Brief-Template-Project-Brief-project-management-Business-Case-Project-Initiation-Document-Project-Planning-Crown-copyright-Project-Manager-Project-Scope-proposed-project


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As a result, you will have a document containing 2 lists:

A list of project goals

A list of the clients goals

This document needs sign-off by the c lient/dec ision-makers.

Stage 3: Define the Target Audience

This stage involves researching the target audience. We need to identify what types

of users will go to the site, and also define the needs of each group.

Gather Characteristics Data

We need to create a common persona for each group. The user interface design

depends greatly on the results of this stage. To get started with this, we first need to

define what our audiences c ommon characteristics are.

Define Socio-Demographic Characteristics: We should figure out the sex, age,

education level, and occupation of our target audience. Targeting teenagers (15-18)

is going to differ from a site meant for people over 60.

Define Psychological Characteristics: We should determine the lifestyle, personality,

temperament, motivation, value system, philosophies, etc. of our target audience. This

information is even more important than socio-demographic characteristics in terms of

user interface design. If, for example, our users are early adopters, the user interfaceand pre-launch strategy will be different than other websites.

Define Wants/Needs Characteristics: We should figure out why our user would

want to sign up to our website, what problems theyre looking to solve with our site,

etc. We define their pain points and aim to solve it with our website.

This information is vital, though its hard to find. If youre working on a website

redesign project , the client may already have this information if they have user

feedback tools in place.

Sometimes the competitor can have it (but good luck gett ing them to share it with

you). In this case, you need to perform user research studies and conduct surveys.

Geographic Location Characteristics: Country, city, region, continent these are

all helpful information. Being online does not completely eliminate the location factor.

Sometimes geotargeting is the first thing to think of when creating a national site,

government website, or any locat ion-dependent website.

Moreover, website content and website copywriting is heavily determined by the

audiences location.

You will need this when youre in the information architecture (IA) stage.

Create User Personas

When the target audience portrait is well-defined, we can then create personas.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_(user_experience)http://sixrevisions.com/usabilityaccessibility/information-architecture-101-techniques-and-best-practices/http://sixrevisions.com/content-strategy/is-web-copy-ruining-your-design/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotargetinghttp://sixrevisions.com/usabilityaccessibility/10-usability-tips-based-on-research-studies/http://sixrevisions.com/tools/10-excellent-feedback-tools-for-web-designers/http://sixrevisions.com/web_design/an-exploration-of-website-redesigns-tips-and-examples/http://sixrevisions.com/project-management/Content/Nikita_Semenov_Architecture_Largescale_Sites/The%20Secret%20to%20Entrepreneurial%20Success:%20A%20Monetizable%20Painhttp://sixrevisions.com/web-development/10-simple-tips-for-launching-a-website/


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Example of a persona. Source: uxmag.com

The main goal of the web architect here is to determine all the possible groups of

users, starting from the largest (core) group, and ending with the smallest one.

Then we create a persona for each group.

Each of the personas you develop should have a:

First and Last name (Dont use the names of real people to avoid distortion ofthe story)

Photo

Age

Location

Occupation

Marital status

Hobby

Skills

Problems they need to solve

Personal and professional experience

To get a better image of your target audience you can interview potential users. This

is about marketing research at this point.


After f inishing this stage, you should now have two things:

A document presenting the general characteristics of the target audience

Personas


http://uxmag.com/articles/personas-the-foundation-of-a-great-user-experience


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Stage 4: Competitor Analysis

To ensure the success of the project, you need to know your competitors and have

good ideas on how to get ahead of them. You should discover their strong points and

weak points.

There are several methodologies involved in conducting competitor analysis research,

including market participant polling, and Internet and print media research.

If youre creating a local website, dont limit yourself only to your country. Look

through international websites that are doing similar things. Most likely, there are

similar or analogous projects up and running somewhere in the world. Some of these

projects can be rather inspiring.

For example, weve been working on a social networking site for pet lovers for a client

in Russia. We didnt find direct competitors in the local market. However, there are

several foreign sites and indirect local competitors. They are:

Competitor Characteristics

www.dogster.com international, popular, quality

www.dogster.ru Russian project, quite popular, satisfying quality

www.catster.com international, popular, quality

Your websites competitors can be direct competitors or indirect competitors.

Direct competitors can be defined as any website operating for the same user

base and who offer analogous products. For example, a direct competitor ofMicrosoft Windows is Apple Mac OS.

Indirect competitors are competitors who offer similar products, but onlypartially satisfy the target audiences needs.

SWOT Analysis

There are different approaches towards c ompetitor identificat ion and analysis. I like

SWOT anal sis the best.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitor_analysis


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SWOT which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

helps indicate the strong points and weak points of your competitors, and more

importantly, aids you in figuring out project opportunities.

SWOT matrix. Source: wikipedia.org

While analyzing competitors, you can discover useful site features and ideas worth

adapting onto your own website general, universal site features like commenting

systems, web forms, etc. Theres no need to reinvent the wheel in these cases.

All good ideas you end up with during the competitor analysis stage will be needed for

the mind mapping stage (which well discuss later on).


You should now have:

A list of direct and indirect competitors

A SWOT analysis for each competitor

Research summaries (ideas generated, market opportunities, etc.)

Stage 5: User Goal-Problem-Solution

Proceeding from the personas weve developed, we can start working on goal-problem-

solution.

User Goals

Every person has short-term and long-term goals.

There can also be sub-goals. For example, a person might desire to improve his career,

but first he needs to find a job. The sub-goal is finding a job to reach the goal of

improving his c areer.

For our website project, we identify a persons goals, problems, and we look towards

providing solutions for them.

All goals should be designed well. Fuzzy goals wont help, as its impossible to solve all

problems within one site. Focus on primary goals and keep the list of goals short.

Some clients think if users listen to music online, their site should also provide such aservice, even if their website isnt looking to solve this problem. The more features we

add, the more diluted our core objectives become.

User Problems

When we have a list of concrete goals, we can determine concrete problems.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SWOT_en.svg


10/23

For example, a user goal on our website might be to find a contractor that can build

his construct ion project. That goal is more complex than it seems: How do we locate

the right contractor for the users specific construction project? Is it important that

the contractor is located close to where the construction project is? How do we allow

them to quickly evaluate many candidates? Due to questions like these, youll generate

ideas easily.

Our Solutions

When were done identifying goals and problems, its time to design and develop

solutions for them.

This process brings great fulfillment to the website architec t because shes looking tosolve pain points that her users have.


As the result, well have a goal-problem-solution matrix designed for each persona

weve developed for our website.

Stage 6: Scenario Mapping

Scenario mapping is the stage dedicated to revealing possible user flows.


http://www.uxforthemasses.com/scenario-mapping/


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User experience mapping. Source: adaptivepath.com

Once again, we need to think like an end user and c reate probable scenarios of his

actions on our website.

Every goal of every persona has his/her own set of scenario maps.

These scenarios help reveal weak points in our existing ideas and knowledge.

Scenarios also help the website architect develop good user flows later on.


We should have scenarios mapped out for critical site goals that weve established in

the previous stage.

Heres an example of a scenario:

User Goal:

Choose a dog

Scenario:

1. Go to main page

2. Go to "Zoopedia" sect ion of the site

3. In "Zoopedia" sect ion, find topics and discussions about dog breeds

4. Read topics and discussions of interest

5. Go to the Read Also section, located at the end of the topic because theresmore information there

6. Choose 3 preferred dog breeds

7. Return to "Zoopedia" top- level web page

8. Read some more

9. Find links to people selling dogs of these breeds

10. Make an informed, final decision

11. Go to a pet store to purchase a pet

When we wrote out this scenario, we ended up adding these site features:

"Zoopedia" rubricator

"Read Also" widgets

Links to pet stores and dog sellers on the breed information pages

As you can see, scenarios help us find opportunities for improvement.


http://adaptivepath.com/ideas/the-anatomy-of-an-experience-map


12/23

See Also:

Customer Journey Maps

Stage 7: Mind Mapping

When we have a bunch of ideas, it becomes helpful when we start visualizing and

interconnecting them.

The mind mapping stage is dedicated to creating a solid system of logically connected

ideas and also helps us cut out unnecessary things. Its a popular design

conceptualization tool.

To create mind maps, we should use Xmind.

Find your list of ideas and divide them into logical categories. For example, lets say

were working on a real estate website. The real estate websites sections might be:

Property Catalog

Community Forums

Articles/News

Information Center

Map all of your ideas into one of these categories.

If an idea fits in more than one category, choose the best fit for it.

Brainstorming will help sift out the useless and unneeded features, web pages, etc .

Each website sect ion should be planned logically. Dont forget about section-

dependent features (such as the user being able to rate each property, in our

example). Mark this connection with an arrow to remember the dependence (in our

example, it would go to the Property Catalog).

You can design your own symbols to indicate different functional sections. If the web

architect, for example, is undecided in terms of which section a certain site feature

belongs to, she can mark it with a question mark. These symbols are really important if

the project is large.


As a result, we have a birds-eye view of the interconnections of site features and

sections.


http://www.xmind.net/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_maphttp://sixrevisions.com/user-experience-ux/customer-journey-maps/


13/23

Stage 8: Information Architecture

Now that we have a detailed mind map of our website, we can start working on the

websites information structure, which will be the foundation of the websites

prototype.




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The websites IA can be created with the help of flowcharting software like Visio.


You should end up with an information architecture (IA) design after this stage.

See Also:

Information Architecture 101: Techniques and Best Pract ices

How to Create Content Maps for Planning Your Websites Content


http://sixrevisions.com/content-strategy/content-mapping/http://sixrevisions.com/usabilityaccessibility/information-architecture-101-techniques-and-best-practices/http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/visio/


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Stage 9: Prototyping/Wireframing

You will need prototyping software for this stage. I recommend Axure, though there

are a number of other similar programs.

The home page prototype doesnt necessary have to be prototyped f irst. For example,

in the case of an online shop or a blog, the product page or blog post page should

come first, because these are critical pages, and will typically be the landing pages of

most users on the site.

The website architect is going to lean on the mind map and information architecture

diagrams to develop this prototype.

When creating each web page prototype, you should focus on how the user can

achieve his/her goals. Before prototyping, you should refresh your knowledge of your

target audience using the previous stages in the website architecture process.

Prototype the Primary Navigation Menu

The primary navigation menu is the first to create. We need to figure out the number

of menu items and the number of drop-down menus.

Prototype the Header Section

Then we design the header section that typically contains these items:

The primary navigation menu

Search form

Contact information

Website logo

Prototype Contextual Areas

Now we start designing contextual areas, which will differ depending on the web page

youre prototyping. We will make content blocks, some of which are constant for every

page, some of which wont.

Prototype the Website Footer

The footer typically stays the same on each web page. Usually, the footer duplicates

the main menu. It also contains auxiliary information such as the websites privacypolicy, links to social networks, contact information, copyright information, and so

forth.

Client Feedback

The f irst web page prototype should be shown to dec ision-makers, and the reason for

the layout should be explained to them. The client might revise and suggest some

adjustments. Thats OK, because having this done on a low-f idelity prototype is much

easier than if we had a higher-fidelity prototype.

After the first page is approved, we can move to the next prototypes. All the ideas

represented in our mind map should be found in these prototypes. Its crucial not to

forget about the smallest detail, as it can turn to hell in the long run if you do.

Test the Prototypes Against Scenario Maps

Our scenarios will help test the mockups to ensure the logical order of every ac tion.

This is the most time-consuming component of this stage and requires a lot of

patience and attentiveness. In the case of large websites, there could be over 100

unique interface prototypes.


http://sixrevisions.com/web_design/five-types-of-effective-headers-in-web-design/http://www.axure.com/


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The deliverables after this stage are low-fidelity prototypes/wireframes of all web page

types.

Examples:




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There are 90 some such prototypes for the example project above. As you can see,

each prototype was broken down in detail. This way, no questions and uncertainty

arose during the design of the funct ional prototypes and f inished web designs.

Stage 10: Prototype Usability Testing

This is one of the best ways to quickly validate the effectiveness of the website

architecture and make changes before things progress further.

Axure generates HTML from prototypes, which make them interactive and ready to

test on users.




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Usability testing at this stage will help you notice gaps and flaws in the architecture.

For test ing purpose, we invite some representatives of target audience and observe

how they manage to reach certain pages and results within the site.

Then, the users can be interviewed regarding the site in general.

After usability testing we make final corrections.


As the result, we will have validated and improved the user-friendliness of our web

page prototypes and we get a better picture of how users would be interacting with

the site.

Stage 11: Project Specification

The final stage of the website architecture process is to create the project

specification document. This should contain a detailed description of each stage of the

website architecture process.

The project specification is the result of all the stages youve gone through. It

typically will contain a detailed description of each prototype, user flows, and so forth.

The specs should be full and unequivocal. Be detailed and thorough, but also keep it

as succinct and as concise as possible.

The project specification should contain all the information regarding software and web

technologies required for the website.

Design requirements should be clear.

Once the project specification is approved, website development starts.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specification_(technical_standard)


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Related Content

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Agile Web Development That Works

How to Bake Content Strategy into Your Web Design Process


http://sixrevisions.com/content-strategy/web-design-process/http://sixrevisions.com/web-development/agile/http://sixrevisions.com/web-development/planning-your-e-commerce-website/


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Related categories: Project Management and UX

About the Author

Nikita Semenov is the founder and CEO at SECL Group Ltd. Web

development has been his lifes work since 2003. Contact him via the

company w ebsite contact page or on Facebook.

14 Comments

Edwin AlexJune 5th, 2013

Excellent article. This article gu ides me to move to next level in my carrier. Thanks

Semenov for this Article

Andrew HintonJune 5th, 2013

I cant help but mention this is how I and many other information architects have done

IA for 15+ years. It still confounds me ho w folks as sume IA is smaller or a sub set o f this

work you describe. (I should note that now, IA is also about pervasive information

environments, not just w eb)Thanks for the article, Im not complaining. Just going o n record. :-)

Anthony RussoJune 5th, 2013

This is one of the better articles ive read on the subject of web project planning. Too

often beginners open up a text editor and start coding/designing with no real goa l in

mind. Great read

Alastair McDermottJune 5th, 2013

Super article, Nikita, youve tied a ll the stage s up brilliantly with the diag rams.

Great reference article, Ill be sending peo ple to this.

Yao LiJune 5th, 2013

Thanks Semeno v for this Article! I am a we b deve loper, and your article is us eful for me

to bu lif my skyscraper!

JenniferJune 6th, 2013

As a project coordinator to a start up company, I had new insight on ho w to start a

project, it wa s more like get a p roject and sta rt working on it here, but after reading

this article and i come to know that this is right way of working on project.

Thanks a lot


http://www.liyao.name/http://www.websitedoctor.com/http://imaginethatgraphics.net/http://inkblurt.com/http://www.facebook.com/semenov.nikita.andreevichhttp://seclgroup.com/kontakty.htmlhttp://seclgroup.com/http://sixrevisions.com/category/user-experience-ux/http://sixrevisions.com/category/project-management/


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florianJune 6th, 2013

very nice article. well organized and a lot o f information. one things that I feel is missing

is content. wouldnt you have to consider existing content and/or create a content

strategy? also the section on IA seems w eak.

Jonathan NelsonJune 6th, 2013

Best article Ive read on information architecture in a long time.

GeriJune 6th, 2013

Fantastic article! I am seeking a career in we b development and de sign and planning on

attending school soon. I am starting research on the s teps for web development and

this is e xtremely helpful. Thanks!

Jacob GubeJune 6th, 2013

@Andrew Hinton: Could we agree that maybe you IA guys have the characteristics of

being a Web Architect?

Because when I think IA, I think: content organ ization, site navigation thats it. I

wouldnt expect you guys to manage the project briefing, design brief, usability research

for the e ntire project (not just findability), competitive ana lysis, etc.

However, when I think o f who d be an effective architect, I automatically think: Give it

to the IA guys, they have the skill set and personality characteristics to do this gigantic

task

Gareth ThomasJune 7th, 2013

Great article Nikita, Ill definitely be us ing this for reference on future projects, thanks .

Johan JohanssonJune 7th, 2013

How does AI fit into the context of content planning / webs ite strategy?

My understanding is that AI involves organizing information, while content planning and

web strategy involves strategically defining the websites content and functionality.

These are 2 distinct phase s o f the development process, but the article combines them

into 1 over-arching AI process .

Jeff CortezJune 10th, 2013

How would you approach mobile or design with mobile first?

Steven HooberJune 11th, 2013

Only thing I challenge is calling the job a *w ebs ite* architect. Even leaving aside Jeffs

plausible question of mobile specifically, there a re many, many, many channels. For the

typical enterprise, there are legacy systems: boxes, catalogs, brochures, store displays,

actual hardw are, billing systems And, its often time for new media of all sorts. How

does tha t webs ite work on mobile and tablets? How a bout futureproofing it for when

everyone browses o n TV and in the car? What about making some data work

seamlessly with desktop or mobile ap ps, instead of those being funny offshoots.

Agree with everything, except the premise that the Web is all there is. Broaden just a

bit more, first.

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