The Great ClickOnDetroit Content Audit of 2017

Before I can begin “The Great ClickOnDetroit Navigation Redesign of 2017,” I must first complete “The Great ClickOnDetroit Content Audit of 2017.”

This begins with none other than spreadsheets and sitemaps. As an information architect, this excites me in the nerdiest way possible.

Here’s the plan: 

• Collect all pages (static, not article pages) and record the URLs, page names, page titles with specific notes about the content on each page into a giant spreadsheet, with the hierarchy of pages made clear.
• Create a sitemap (blueprint) of the pages which is married with the current global main navigation. I am using a site mapping tool called Slickplan for this.

Then what?

Once I have my static content pages and their location within the site hierarchy all laid out in front me (I can’t wait, seriously) … then it’s time to audit. That means trimming the fat. I have the advantage of already knowing what my stakeholders (which includes me) want to keep want to say bye-bye to.

This is the first step. It’s laying the groundwork for the navigation redesign. The spreadsheet and sitemap will be extremely useful moving forward.

Here’s a quick look (view full page here) at my sitemap being built in Slickplan (work in progress):