Artifact: Navigation Map
| The Navigation Map expresses the structure of the user-interface elements in the system, along with their potential navigation pathways. | |
| Role: | User-Interface Designer |
| Optionality/Occurrence: | Optional. |
| Templates and Reports: | |
| Examples: | - CSPS Navigation Map - Inception Phase |
| UML Representation: | Not applicable. |
| More Information: | |
| Input to Activities: - Develop Support Materials - Develop Training Materials - Prototype the User-Interface - Review the Design | Output from Activities: - Design the User Interface |
Purpose
There is one Navigation Map per system. The purpose of the Navigation Map is to express the principal user interface paths through the system. These are the main pathways through the screens of the system and not necessarily all of the possible paths. It can be thought of as a road map of the system’s user interface.
The Navigation Map serves as a backdrop and a link between the individual Storyboards. The Storyboards describe how the user moves navigates through the user-interface elements to perform system features and the the Navigation Map defines what the valid navigation paths are. The Navigation Map conveys the structure of the system’s user interface, and the Storyboards convey the dynamics.
The Navigation Map makes it easy to see how many “clicks” it will take a user to get to a specific screen.
Properties
The Navigation Map shows the user interface elements and the navigation paths between them.
| Property Name | Brief Description | Representation |
|---|---|---|
| User-Interface Elements | The screens, forms, Web pages, etc. that the user interacts with. The user-interface elements represent the system’s user interface. | Depends on the representation selected for the Navigation Map. See the Tailoring section. |
| Navigation Paths | The paths between user-interface elements that the user can traverse while interacting with the system’s user interface. | Depends on the representation selected for the Navigation Map. See the Tailoring section. |
Timing
The Navigation Map may first be introduced during Inception when initial brainstorming on what the system’s user-interface should look like is performed. It is refined over time as the user interface for the system is developed and stabilizes.
Responsibility
The User-Interface Designer role is primarily responsible for this artifact. Those responsibilities include:
- Identifying what navigation paths must exist between the user-interface elements.
- Determining if the navigation paths are too long, and thus would affect the usability of the system.
- Making sure the Navigation Map remains consistent with the Storyboards.
Tailoring
A variety of representations may be used for the Navigation Map. Some examples include:
- A hierarchical “tree” diagram, where each level of the diagram shows the number of clicks it takes to get to a specific user-interface element
- Free-form graphics with custom icons.
The selected representation and any tailoring decisions should be documented in the project-specific guidelines.