Weblog entry #93 for ajt
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#93
Web Site Architecture
Posted by ajt on Tue 22 May 2007 at 20:39
I'm planning to redesign two sites and a blog into one single entity. The problem is that I'm not sure what the best approach is.
A traditional web site is made up of pages in directories in a logical hierarchical layout. This is logical for the user, easy to bookmark and easy to implement in a file and directory manner without the use of scripting. The problem is that I often want pages to appear in multiple places, so that starts a chain reaction of soft-linking which easily gets out of hand.
A database based site typically has a dynamic structure often search driven that better fits the end users needs. It's flexible and adapt easily to changes with needing a redesign. The problem is that it requires some kind of scripting/engine to power it, and they are often a swine to bookmark or navigate if you arrive via a Google link.
Sites like the DA.org site or PerlMonks are great, packed with content, but often lacking navigation or organisation, which means once you are away from the search interface it's easy to miss things or get lost. Tools like tag clouds are great and with the recent upgrade here are my primary searching interface. I would find DA.org hard to use without the tag cloud.
I've now got to decide how to Architecture my site. I'm use to the traditional directories and files design and it's very easy but at the same time I'm also drawn to a more dynamic interface, I just don't know how to marry the two.
A traditional web site is made up of pages in directories in a logical hierarchical layout. This is logical for the user, easy to bookmark and easy to implement in a file and directory manner without the use of scripting. The problem is that I often want pages to appear in multiple places, so that starts a chain reaction of soft-linking which easily gets out of hand.
A database based site typically has a dynamic structure often search driven that better fits the end users needs. It's flexible and adapt easily to changes with needing a redesign. The problem is that it requires some kind of scripting/engine to power it, and they are often a swine to bookmark or navigate if you arrive via a Google link.
Sites like the DA.org site or PerlMonks are great, packed with content, but often lacking navigation or organisation, which means once you are away from the search interface it's easy to miss things or get lost. Tools like tag clouds are great and with the recent upgrade here are my primary searching interface. I would find DA.org hard to use without the tag cloud.
I've now got to decide how to Architecture my site. I'm use to the traditional directories and files design and it's very easy but at the same time I'm also drawn to a more dynamic interface, I just don't know how to marry the two.