Practical Information Architecture: A Hands-On Approach to Structuring Successful Websites

I started off feeling kind of so-what about this book. There's lots of useful stuff in it, but most seemed pretty obvious. Not so! I found myself making lots of notes and underlining whole pages. By the time I was finished reading, I had figured out how to fix a usability problem I've been wrestling with for a long time and had lots of other great ideas! The usability solution wasn't in the book, but the inspiration WAS! This book got me to THINKING BETTER. It's been a long time since a computer book did that for me.

It seems you either love this book or your hate it. I LOVED it! I've heard many of these things before (and I have actually thought of some of them all on my own!) but Reiss lays it all out, step by step (OK, not in five easy steps, but in 19), and I was surprised at the number of practical goodies I could put to immediate use in my work as a web designer.This is one of the few books for web designers written by a communications expert (Reiss started out as a business writer) that effectively explains information architecture as a means to achieve business goals, which so many web people fail to grasp. I thought Chapter 6 and Reiss's discussions of shared references and customer trust were particularly valuable.Some of the reviews I've read think this book is far too simple and doesn't cover anything in depth. Maybe it's because Reiss discusses basic GENERIC issues. For example, his discussion of hyperlinks only runs about 8 pages. But the point is, if you understand the principles layed out in these 8 pages, you'll be able to arrive at good solutions on your own, without having to look them up in a 300-page Nielsen's Guide to the Use of Hyperlinks. (How nice that Reiss assumes that the people who read this book will actually THINK FOR THEMSELVES once in a while!)Is this book for beginners? By all means! It's easy to read and gets right to the point and walks you through the process from A to Z. Is is for the pros? Maybe not everyone, but to dismiss it as "heard it all before" is grossly unfair. (I wonder if some high-priced professionals are scared this guy gave away too many of their little secrets!) Personally I'm not too proud to acknowlege a few holes in my education and am glad when someone helps set me straight. I think this book has real and lasting value and I'd give it 6 stars if I could!

As a professional information architect, I was weened on the classic Rosenfeld and Morville book and on first glance, there would seem to be a lot of repitition. However, Eric Reiss has recognized the broader business concerns and helped place information architecture in its proper perspective within the overall project framework. This makes it a VERY valuable book (it certainly got me thinking about a lot of issues I had previously ignored). His examples are well-chosen, his explanations are precise, and his observations are timely. Most important of all, he makes the entire subject MUCH more understandable, particularly for uninformed clients and employers. I hope my boss reads this before the next round of layoffs!

I found this book to be a great first read and an excellent resource to go back to. I'm a producer at a web firm and information design is a part of my job. This book helped me move to the next level of knowledge and helped confirm, what the author calls "common sense", issues for me. More than worth the investment.

I've worked with web development for some time now, and having read the previous review, I hesitated to buy this book. Now I'm glad I did! Reiss writes like a dream and makes this important subject accessable to everyone - not just a few seasoned pros. Yes, we've heard most of this before, but never so clearly, and Reiss' shares his experience on several subjects (such as personalization and audience segmentation) that most of us have never had to deal with personally. Far from "dumbing down," his explanations are lucid and his observations are right on target. Reiss also provide loads of hands-on advice, which helps beginners and pros alike avoid expensive mistakes. When presented this logically, the rules of site organization all seems so obvious. But if they really were, why are so many designers still repeating the same dumb mistakes? This book is a "must have."