Treemap of the Boston Public Library's Website

In making the Treemap of the Boston Public Library, I began the process by starting on the homepage of the website. Creating the treemap was difficult, as I was pondering whether to do three levels or four levels of content. Ultimately, I decided on a three-level content treemap. I did think more differently in approaching the homepage by making it my level one content. From there, I was able to place the second level content by the headers on the homepage and only including third level content if there were sections that were needed. Following the same pattern done on the homepage, I continued doing the same process for each section on the library's tab bar, where each section was considered level one content. The Second content level were the sections that were under each tab, which would lead to information about the third content level. This content level was used to describe the different topics on the webpage, often the headings of these pages were considered third level content. Regarding the first level content of "books & more" and "services," the third content level is already showcased under the second level content. These tabs already had the content levels that were needed, and I did not need to go directly to the page. It was a struggle to create the treemap, but ultimately, I was satisfied with the results

Reflection

In this lab, I find myself learning more about Excel through treemapping. Treemapping provides a great infographic on displaying visual data. The Treemapping of the BPL website provided a great challenge as the sections that I used were not divided clearly like URI's library website. While URI had dividers in their boxes, the BPL had boxes full of headings and I had to use my judgement on whether to use them or not. The lab makes me appreciate the way Information Architects approach analyze tabs and links on websites. It helps to learn the navigation ability of library websites, as it is the most important function of users having an easy time of accessing information. I guess, this lab was one of the hardest so far as it tested my ability to come up with content levels for the BPL Library.