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WordPress WordPress for Website Owners Adding and Editing Content Content Strategy

Posted by Kyle Arbuckle
Kyle Arbuckle
1,431 Points

What tools do you use for website planning/site mapping?

Are there any tools you use for the initial basic level of site mapping (like those that appear in the animation of this video)?

Also, I would like to add further notes and potentially all the content that would appear on each of those areas in the site map. This would be a really for developing a process for creating websites

Thanks

3 Answers

Jose Platas
Jose Platas
19,745 Points
Jose Platas
Jose Platas
19,745 Points

I believe that a software that may be able to help you with the planning of your site is called -Balsamiq Mockups. https://balsamiq.com/products/mockups/

"Balsamiq Mockups is a rapid wireframing tool that helps you Work Faster & Smarter. It reproduces the experience of sketching on a whiteboard, but using a computer.

Making mockups is fast. You'll generate more ideas, so you can throw out the bad ones and discover the best solutions. "

If you don't like Balsamiq i suggest you either use Illustrator, Photoshop or even PowerPoint. Just make sure it is easy for you to use so that you don't use a lot of time learning the tool and rather use your time for planning.

Kyle Arbuckle
Kyle Arbuckle
1,431 Points

I will probably look around for some free software instead. Since I'm just getting started I can't justify $90 for website planning.

Thanks for your suggestion though!

Sean Henderson
Sean Henderson
15,413 Points
Sean Henderson
Sean Henderson
15,413 Points

Using a mind-mapping tool is an excellent choice, because it allows you to reflect both the structure and the content itself in a very natural way, with only as much structure as you want/need.

Lifehacker has a nice write of some of the best paid and free ones for mac/windows/browser.

My personal favorite is the latest update of MindNode for OS X. It's aesthetically awesome, fast, and has great mobile apps that allow for seamless switching (i.e. start on the couch with a tablet and move to the laptop when it gets serious).

Mind Node Website Content Map Example

Ian Lawson
Ian Lawson
367 Points
Ian Lawson
Ian Lawson
367 Points

I would recommend checking out Slickplan.com - the options are pretty much endless for website planning. You mentioned wanting to add notes and content which is just two options out of many that Slickplan has. 30 day free trial and they have a sitecrawler. It's all done from a browser, so no software needed.