Making the Web Work: Designing Effective Web Applications

Classification Schemes

The first aspect of the organizational model to consider is the classification scheme—the method or system you use for grouping the information and objects that make up your application. Classification schemes fall into one of two groups: objective and subjective.

Objective Classification Schemes

The least complex type of classification schemes is objective classification schemes, which have categories with firmly fixed boundaries. In other words, the categories are so precisely defined that it’s possible to objectively determine the appropriate category for any item. There are four types of objective classification schemes:

• Alphabetic

• Numeric

• Chronologic

• Geographic

A good example of an objective classification ...