Writemaps - a handy visual sitemap tool
When planning a website, everyone has their own way of figuring out which content should go where. Loads of people use spreadsheets, others use downloadable and installable purpose built tools and - ashamedly - I’ve been using a good old piece of paper and pen for about ten years. After a while though, it can become quite a pain rejigging your site plan time and time again. Today I was once more editing the visual sitemap for Shares.ie to accommodate some new content I signed contracts for today, and pretty much lost the plot because it was becoming such a pain to plan a site with that much content. After a quick search on Google I stumbled across a web based tool called Writemaps, and what a saviour it is!
Writemaps’ mission statement is as simple as their site is to use:
WriteMaps was created to provide a fast, fun, and easy way to plan your websites. WriteMaps’ aim is to enable any user, not just web professionals, with the tools they need to get their ideas mapped out in a visually pleasing environment.
Signing up is a breeze, with the registration form consisting of username, password, and email address - that’s it. You don’t even need to verify your email address, and the site logs you in as soon as you’ve signed up so you can start building sitemaps instantly.
You’d need to be a thicko to not figure out how to use Writemaps from the get-go. You’re presented with a blank sitemap with just one top level index page icon. On this you’ll find a little green icon with a ‘+’ sign on it - just click on this to add the next item / level to the site navigation. Easy eh?
It’s simple to rename items in your sitemap, and each item is drag-and-droppable, so you can easily reshape your visual sitemap on the fly. There are two view options, an outline view and a tree structured map, both great options whether your site is one level or ten levels deep.
Another great feature is the ability to change the ‘Page Info’ for each sitemap level. You can add notes, a url for each level (more about this later), and the ajax powered interface makes editing both of these a breeze.
There is a clear and easy to use menu bar at the top of the application, and by clicking the ‘File’ button, you’re presented with several options, including several export functions - you can export as XML here, which’ll create a sitemap for your site, and if you’ve added values for the url using the ‘Page Info’ tab at each sitemap level, your sitemap will be crawlable by Google, Yahoo, et al. Handy eh?
It’s also possible to share sitemaps with colleagues, and you can control whether those you share with can only view the sitemap, or make changes to it too. Great for collaboration, and for sharing information with clients.
November 28th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Nice find Hugh. Must have a play around with it.
Can I be nosy and ask where do you find people/sites to contribute content for your shares.ie website. Will it be in the form of blog posts or is it financial content.
Thanks
Adrian
November 28th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Hey Adrian,
Thanks for the comment.
In terms of news / features - they won’t be just blog posts, we’ll have around ten news stories daily (depending on market activity), and about 1-2 features per day. These features will be based on market trends, investment tips, and so on.
At some point in the future it would be nice to have some blogs on the site, where some ‘men from within’ various stockbrokers might give daily tips etc.
There’ll also be some community features on the site too - we’ll have charts for most listed companies on most of the main indices, and users will be able to add these to their ‘Portfolio’ to keep track of what they’re investing in, and to customise news features to their liking if desired.
We’ll also have a ‘tip’ feature, not unlike the ’status’ feature on Facebook. From this we’ll have a rolling ‘users tips’ page.
Cheers,
Hugh
November 29th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Hi Hugh
Thanks for the info.
What I’m wondering really is how you go about finding people to contribute content for your sites. I notice from a previous blog entry that you use oDesk for some design work.
I’m rubbish at content and am going to have to get someone to write content for future sites. Have you used a site similar to oDesk/elance… to find content writers?
Great site by the way. Always look forward to your posts. Great to hear affiliate/internet stuff discussed from an Irish perspective
Thanks
Adrian
November 29th, 2008 at 4:15 am
Hey Adrian,
oDesk is pretty good for developers but (from my non-experience of it for that sort of thing anyway), not so good for writers etc.
Look at it like this - each and every publication online and off has a ‘look and feel’, a target audience, or an overall message it wishes to project. If you use multiple contributors who aren’t linked with each other you’ll never get consistency of message or - if that’s what you’re all about - brand value.
If you can source an industry professional who is passionate about what they do and can write well, by all means ask them for contributions in lieu of exposure - especially if they’re starting out.
Otherwise, paid content is best, but it is best to only engage with contributors long term so they’re obliged contractually to adhere to editorial guidelines and deliver consistently what you wish to offer.
Should you need a point in the right direction, just let me know the topic and tone of the content you’re looking for, and i’ll point you in the right direction.
Cheers,
Hugh
December 1st, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Great review Hugh! Thanks for taking the time.
-Scott, WriteMaps.com
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:24 am
Hey Scott,
No probs - excellent work!
Cheers,
H
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Thanks Hugh. Will be in touch
Adrian