Content Structure: Information Architecture
"Information architecture" is the way a website is organized in order to effectively deliver information to users. By segmenting the content on a website, users are able to locate and consume the information they need.
Content Levels
When building out a website, hierarchical organization is key. As seen in the image below, there are many different tiers to consider when building out content on Drupal. Each of these content levels are discussed in more detail following the image.
Ithaca.edu
Ithaca.edu refers to all content on our site. Think of this as the largest of a Russian nesting doll, or the outer layer of an onion.
Sections
Sections are clusters of content within Ithaca.edu, such as Admissions, Academics, or Life at IC: a collection of one or more websites. As an example, within the "Admissions" site, there are sites for: Undergraduate Admission; Graduate Admission; Tuition and Financial Aid; and our Visit site.
For some content owners, it may make sense to group their site under one of these sections. Other sites may warrant being placed directly off the ithaca.edu root.
Sites
Sites are a defined entity in Drupal, and the level most users will need to be familiar with. A site in Drupal probably lines up with what most people think of when they hear the term. For example, the School of Humanities and Sciences is a Site, but so too is the Department of Anthropology.
Within the Drupal system, both are the same sort of entity, but content managers set the relationship between the two sites so that the department appears to exist within the school site.
Topics
Topics are the second level of content within a Site. Generally, a Site is composed of multiple Topics. Each Topic can serve as its own landing page and direct users to the Pages (explained below) grouped within.
Pages
Pages are the final level of content, on which the most detailed and specific information is placed. Pages can also be placed at the secondary level of a Site, but users will not be able to add a third layer beyond that Page. If you need to go three levels deep, it is recommended you create a Topic and then "child" Pages.