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Web Site Architecture
You can think of web site architecture as the relationships among the HTML pages and other components that comprise the site. A site map is like a blueprint that shows the site architecture. The following site map depicts the architecture for a corporate intranet. An intranet is a web site that provides information to individuals who work in an organization. Generally, Internet users outside the organization cannot access a company's intranet.
In the site map above, the single blue rectangle represents the intranet home page. Each rectangle in the rest of the figure represents an HTML page that is linked to the home page via one or more hyperlinks. Websites can also include links to web-enabled software applications (e.g., billing software) and databases (e.g., personnel information) that reside on servers and with which users interact.
Web page design and site architecture (or site design) should go hand in hand. Well-designed sites have clues about their architecture built into each page.
For example, the page you are reading now has several clues about site architecture embedded in it including the menu on the top right to locations outside the site, the horizontal top menu with links to sections of the site, and the left side vertical menu with links to pages in the same section as this one.