Frequently Asked Questions

What is findability?
Findability refers to the quality of being locatable or navigable. At the item level, we can evaluate to what degree a particular object is easy to discover or locate. At the system level, we can analyze how well a physical or digital environment supports navigation and retrieval.

Is findability limited to the Web?
No. The concept of findability is universal and timeless. However, with a distributed, heterogeneous collection of several billion items, the Web does present unique and important findability challenges.

Is findabilty a synonym for IA?
No. Information architecture is a discipline concerned with the structural and semantic design of shared information spaces. Findability is a goal of IA, along with usability, desirability, credibility, and accessibility. Many people contribute to the findability of websites and intranets, including writers, designers, and developers.

What is findability.org?
This website is a selective, seriously incomplete, and perpetually evolving collection of links to people, software, organizations, and content related to findability.

What is the purpose of this website?
First, to place findability on a par with usability, where it belongs. Second, to serve as a complex query, run against the brains of users, who will hopefully contribute additional ideas, definitions, categories, and resources.

Why isn't findability.org faceted?
Excellent question! We'll hopefully integrate faceted navigation into version 2.0. In the meantime, thanks to Chris McEvoy, you can navigate most of collection by date, title, and popularity.

Who manages findability.org?
Findability.org is owned and operated by Peter Morville. Peter is currently working on a new O'Reilly book on the subject of Ambient Findability.

Who designed findability.org?
Findability.org was designed and produced by Q LTD.