Designed for Use, 2nd Edition

Preparing for a Card Sort

Take a bunch of index cards and put the things you need to sort on them. For example, if you’re structuring a website, you represent the individual pages or areas of your website as the individual cards to sort. If you’re structuring an application, you use the names of features, properties, menu items, commands, windows, tasks, goals, or visible elements as your cards.

It sometimes makes sense to pick things that are roughly on the same level in your product: don’t mix terms that are high up in the hierarchy with terms that are far down in the hierarchy. Instead, do multiple card sorts to get information on different levels of the hierarchy.

It’s best to use terms that are obvious and easily understandable. If you absolutely ...