How to create great looking sitemaps for clients
Sitemaps are helpful, nobody can deny that. Not only for the user of a website, but also for you when you create it. However, a well presented sitemap that you create as part of a pitch can also turn a sceptic into a potential client. So here is how to do it.
Start the old fashioned way
Before you embark on any sitemap, you should always have a vague idea of what you are actually aiming to create. Computers are helpful, but they cannot do the thinking alone.
So grab a piece of paper and a pencil (or a permanent marker if you one of those people that stimulate their ego with big black pens) and start outlining where you want your visitors to go.
This is itself a science on its own, so I will not elaborate much more on it.
Fire up OminiGraffle
OmniGraffle is a great application by the OmniGroup. Even though I believe that it was not built with usability in mind, it does a great job at helping you to create sitemaps.
So go ahead and download the demo version of OmniGraffle. Unfortunately, it limits you to 20 elements on your page, however, that should be enough to take a peek and find out whether it is the right tool for you
Start by just creating text elements on your canvas. By clicking twice on the text tool, the application allows you to create multiple text elements in a row: Click, type and click somewhere else.
I created a dumbed down sitemap of my own site. This now looks something like this:
Since this doesn’t resemble a sitemap very much, we will now link the elements. A quick and easy way to do this, is to use the Outline feature of OmniGraffle: Just click on the Utilities button at the top left corner of your window and a drawer opens. Select the Outline tab.
Now you can drag the elements that you just created into a hierarchy. Additionally, you can add children, parents or siblings by right clicking on any element.
Finalise (File > Print)
By now you should have a pretty good sitemap. From here on you can style it yourself using the inspector palette or you use one of pre-created styles that are accessible through the select menu at the bottom of the outline drawer.
Of course, if you feel adventurous, you can also add in behaviours or database interactions. Either way, OmniGraffle enables you to create ‘site’maps that look a lot more professional than the pencil scribbles that I used to draw.
Experimentation is the way to go.