If you are tasked with putting together a WordPress theme for a client organization or business the theme you select is very important. Perhaps your first inclination is to choose a theme that looks great or let your client choose a theme that they are happy with. This practice however can have negative repercussions for your client. In this talk we will discuss how to appropriately choose a theme or build a theme that supports your clients goals. Using information architecture we can better select themes or build new ones.

1. INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE has everything to
do with your theme!
Steven Slack . @slacktronic . S2 Web . S2webpress.com

2. We are talking mainly about
custom WordPress projects for
businesses and organizations

3. Each Building serves a different
purposeEvery building serves it’s own purpose

7. Ok, great … what does
this have to do with
websites?

10. USER NEEDS
and
USER EXPERIENCE

11. Pitfalls into a poor user experience

12. We decide the direction of the website based on our intuition or preference.
Pitfalls into a poor user experience

13. We decide the direction of the website based on our intuition or preference.
We let clients direct the design and discovery process.
Pitfalls into a poor user experience

14. MY AWESOME WEBSITE
→ ENTER ←

15. It’s NOT about what YOU want

16. All websites exist within a particular
business or organization context.

17. Information Architecture happens!

18. What are the goals of the web site?
What are the needs and information
seeking behaviors of the audience?
Find the balance:

19. How do we define IA?
1. The structural design of shared information
environments.
1. The combination of organization, labeling, search,
and navigation systems within web sites and
intranets.
1. The art and science of shaping information products
and experiences to support usability and findability.
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web - Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfield

20. How can we use IA to create a better user
experience and a more organized
navigation system ?

21. Discovery

22. Discovery
● Content Inventory
● Review of technical/functional requirements such as
third party integrations or other specific functionality
needed
● Analytics and user research
● Determining target audience
● Develop site content organization

23. WHEN YOU SKIP THE DISCOVERY PHASE

24. Information Architecture
&
WordPress

26. Taxonomies
Custom Meta Data
Custom Post Types

27. Custom Post Types help us
to better organize different
content types.

32. Custom Archive
template:
archive-staff.php

33. What does this do for
us?
● Better navigation
● More organized
● Appropriate assignment of content types

34. When to use Custom Post Types,
Taxonomies, and Custom Meta
● If post types need custom attributes use custom
meta data.
● Taxonomies are good for grouping and categorizing
custom content
● When numerous content types are related to a
specific thing such as “staff” use a custom post type.

35. Theme
Implementation

36. WP tools for better IA
Menus:
Use this tool to help users move through the site content easily.

37. WP tools for better IA
Menus:
Use this tool to help users move through the site content easily.
Categories & Tags:
This is a great way to organize your content and make it easier
for your users to find what they are looking for.

38. WP tools for better IA
Menus:
Use this tool to help users move through the site content easily.
Categories & Tags:
This is a great way to organize your content and make it easier
for your users to find what they are looking for.
Posts & Pages:
Determine what is static content and if you have content that can
be archived in reverse chronological order.

39. WP tools for better IA
Widgets:
Can provide better site navigation, provide search systems or
present the site’s information in a variety of ways.

40. WP tools for better IA
Widgets:
Can provide better site navigation, provide search systems or
present the site’s information in a variety of ways.
Other important tools:
Authors, Date & Time, Comments, 404 pages, Search forms

41. WP tools for better IA
Widgets:
Can provide better site navigation, provide search systems or
present the site’s information in a variety of ways.
Other important tools:
Authors, Date & Time, Comments, 404 pages, Search forms
Add-on features and functionality for better organization →

42. Plugins
E-Commerce
Front-end Registration
Portfolio
Directory
Slider
Advanced Search Shortcodes
Events Calendar

43. Presentation & Functionality
Generally, when we refer to functionality in
WordPress we are speaking of plugins while
themes handle the presentation.

44. Add theme support for
plugins
TGM Plugin Activation
The best way to require and recommend plugins for
WordPress themes (and other plugins)
tgmpluginactivation.com

45. Don’t bloat the site with
too many plugins
Many plugins come with a UI with many options that
the client or business DOES NOT NEED
This can lead to a poor user experience

47. Put custom functions into a plugin.

48. Put custom functions into a plugin.
Data Portability

49. Even in custom projects
we need to think about data
portability

50. Organization & Maintenance
● Portable Plugin
● Easier to debug
● Separation of concerns

51. A well organized data
structure is good IA

52. What does the business or
organization get out of well
organized code?

53. A more stable environment will save
you time on debugging, fixing
problems or moving data, hence saving
your client money.

54. Marketplace themes and
Information Architecture

55. Too much custom
functionality baked
into the theme that
is not needed

56. Too many features can create a cluttered and confusing UI

58. Design for your content

63. INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE has everything to
do with your theme!

64. Thank YOU!