Viewing the project from a bird's eye perspective is a chance to see how the site is organized and how the user will view the site from a content and informational perspective. This is a primary reason to create a site map, which is the blueprint or backbone that will shape the site during the development process. Traditionally, there is an individual from the design team who is designated as the information architect or information designer. Whether you have a dedicated individual or will need to handle structuring as the project manager, it is worth the effort to educate the client and the team about how important this step is to the overall development process. The time spent in this step will allow the client, the designers, the production team and engineering to be on the same page throughout the process.

Building a Site Map
The site map shows a high level view of the site, and should show main areas of content and a representation of all HTML pages and dynamic or database-driven areas within each section. Your site map should be based on the content outline, as well as any sketches or existing site maps the client may provide. If possible, it is best if the client approves the content outline before site map creation begins. Once you complete the initial structure of your site map (which may take several iterations)—you need to take a look at the structure from a user's perspective to see if it makes sense and is navigable. Use a drawing program such as Macromedia FreeHand or an outlining program such as Microsoft Visio or Inspiration Software to show the main pages and high level functionality. Be sure to show primary links and global navigation.

Setting Naming Conventions
Setting the naming conventions during site map creation is an important part of the process. Naming conventions, once set, will help to determine the organization of the project (from content/asset organization to HTML production and application building.) There are two types of naming conventions that should be addressed: Organizational (numeric) and URL conventions. Organizational naming is a manner of applying a numeric or alphanumeric convention to the site map One effective method designates the home page as 0.0 and the primary sections are 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and so on. Sub sections under primary pages are 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and so on. This hierarchy of organization can be applied to content (text files and images) as a way to quickly and easily identify where a piece of content goes. Pages should be given traditional URL names as well, which can be based on the production team's preference.

Addressing Functional Areas
The version of the site map we outline in this stage is not a functional specification document, although it can effectively show where functionality appears from a user's perspective. This includes features such as user login and registration. Decision trees can also be shown, such as showing a preregistered user path vs. an unregistered new user. For complex functionality such as e-commerce and search features, a basic path can be shown. The engineering team who will be handling the actual programming and database creation will usually be handling technical specifications and details on an interrelated development track that should be driven by the user-centric design specifications discussed here (Note: we will cover these processes in future additions to this site). Project managers or engineers working on the project will generally use the site map as a guide. Changes made to the site map need to be communicated regularly as they might affect both the design and development process.