Step One Web Site Planning Documentation: Content Inventory

In the coming weeks I will be releasing posts on the steps of web site planning and the documents that go along with each step.

The first step when approaching any web site is to see the full content on the current site. This step is about discovery and while this process can be pain staking at times, it is a document that many people will find useful in any web site redesign, whether the redesign is of the web site's organization or of the web site's content.

With a content inventory the goal is to capture and describe every piece of content on the site. The above sample is from a small site with only a few pages; however, a more substantial web site will produce a far more substantial spreadsheet. While the above only shows an overview of each page this report is supplemented with a full content including all text.

There is no specific format that needs to be followed however the spreadsheet combined with a further analysis as labeled attachments will work well for most projects.

However, there are a couple absolutely necessary components to every content inventory other than the content.

Each page, or pop-up, or lightbox, should be uniquely named so it can be easily referenced by everyone involved in the project. Generally, the more human intuitive the name the easier the naming scheme can be discussed.

In addition to labeling each of these pieces it is important to record the location of each piece. The most comprehensive way to do this is through by recording not only the URL but also by developing a way to record the hierarchy of the site. For the above example the hierarchy is developed through the use of taps. The main page is justified furthest left with subsequent levels of layers being tabbed in. In this step be sure to record all information, even if there are multiple paths to the same information. You need to know not only what you have but also where you have it.

The above is the absolutely necessary information in devleoping a content inventory however additional peices of information can add further demension and help tell the story of what is and is not important to the site.

Additional information that canbe covered in a content inventory includes:

• Traffic: You can see in the above example the fourth column contains traffic for the previous month. This can show where your clients are going and where they are hitting road blocks on your website
• File types: This piece of information can be important because many file types require certain programs to view them; therefore, it may be able to tell a story as to what file types your audience enjoys and what they are turned off by
• Pictures: Some sites that depend heavily on images may not find it sufficient to simply describe the pictures. In these cases it is good to include a visual cue of the image in the content inventory.

This is most certainly not an exhaustive list of what can be recorded in a content inventory but it will help you get started. Just remember, anything that is a part of the web site can be recorded, and prove useful for subsequent steps.