Navigating on web sites: Exploring the life events approach

To help users find their way on complex web sites, an adequate information architecture and navigation design is important. Currently, a navigational structure based on so-called life events is becoming increasingly popular. In close cooperation with the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, we executed two studies (a card sort study and a comparative usability test) to investigate the attitude and experiences of the users with regard to a web site based on life events. The results of the card sort study showed that citizens do not spontaneously think about life events as a possible way to categorize and label content elements of a government web site. The results of the usability test showed that a navigational structure based on life events does not lead to more effective or efficient search processes. A web site with a navigational structure based on life events is as usable as a structure based on themes.