Am I bashing the Sitemap listing in the left frame of Axure's generated prototypes? No no no! That would be like biting the hand that feeds you. I am, however, sharing my experience of how users and clients interact with prototypes when the sitemap is visible and when it is not.

Axure's Out-of-the-Box Prototype

We've all seen it—the default prototype generated by Axure 6 Beta with the Sitemap and Page Notes in the left sidebar:

For starters, here are three reasons why Axure 6 Beta's prototypes are lightyears more usable than their 5.6 predecessors:

1. There's no cumbersome separation of Sitemap and Page Notes in a left and bottom frame that take up browser space
2. The Sitemap and Page Notes are easier to access and view because of improved design layout
3. The single left sidebar collapses to reveal even more browser real estate for showcasing your Axure prototype

Sitemaps Can Be Troublemakers

Even with the improved prototype layout, I still get the following comments about using the prototype's interface:

1. "Will my final website use the Sitemap on the side to view different pages?"
2. "I clicked on [a page] in the Sitemap and it wasn't there."
3. "The information on this page isn't about my business!"

The first comment arises because users confuse the Sitemap for the final global navigation of their prototyped site. The second can occur if you create the page in Axure's sitemap (to work on later) but forget to populate it with information thus producing an error when viewed in the prototype.

The third comment—my bad—is from my early days of prototyping where I would import a page from another .rp file to save time, but forget to remove the previous project's information from it. Granted, some of these mistakes are from the creator not the user, but should be avoided to keep project's moving.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Removing the Sitemap

Without a Sitemap in the sidebar, users are forced to explore your prorotype according to its design, which is the first step in helping them understand how their website works. However, if a page is four levels deep, they'll have to follow the path through the prototype to get to it, whereas they could just click it on the Sitemap to view it. Even so, if your Sitemap is full of empty pages that add weight to the prototype or will produce errors if certain pages are viewed, it's still doing more harm than good.

Let's get rid of it shall we?

Removing the Sitemap from Axure Prototypes

Open your prototype folder and find the /plugins/sitemap folder. When inside, open the sitemap.js file in your favorite code editor and add this code to line 4:

if (!configuration.showSitemap) { return; }

Lines 1–6 of your sitemap.js file should now read like this:

// use this to isolate the scope
(function () {

    if (!configuration.showSitemap) { return; }

    var SHOW_HIDE_ANIMATION_DURATION = 0;

Save the file and go back to the root directory of your prototype and look for the /data folder. When inside, open configuration.js and notice there are only a few lines of code:

var configuration =
{
"showPageNotes":true}

Replace what's inside that file with the following code:

var configuration =
{
"showPageNotes":true, "showSitemap":false}

View your prototype now and you'll only see the Page Notes tab:

The only problem with this method—which isn't that big of a deal—is that it has to be done with each new prototype since the /plugins and /data directories are rewritten with each new prototype generation. I explored the prototype generation settings in Axure, but couldn't find any options to remove the Sitemap or at least reorder the tabs to show Page Notes first.

Have another solution? Please share!

6 Comments

Pierre Lebrun

April 07, 2011

Yes, don’t use the index.html file but directly the other html file use to do the tricks on previous version. Does it work on the new one?

Panayiotis Karabetis

April 13, 2011

Pierre,

Yes, in Axure 5.6 the Home.html of a prototype can be loaded to bypass the left and bottom frames with the Sitemap and Page Notes. In Axure 6 Beta, I’ve noticed you can load individual prototype pages without the left sidebar, but I haven’t found an easier way to remove the Sitemap from the sidebar than this quick Javascript solution.

Can you think of a more effective way?

Pierre Lebrun

April 13, 2011

Exactly. My point is that you just have to open the generated web page directly in the prototype directory (eg the right column’s content), without using the index.html or start.html (that has the framish behavior).

That way, you don’t have to modify the files, and it works everytime.

But you do lose the page notes and the new comment’s functionalities.

Panayiotis Karabetis

April 13, 2011

Ah, I see your point now. However, the Page Notes have been crucial to the creative process for delivering key points to the client, designer, and developer.

This post was written to convey frustrations from the Sitemap tab getting in the way of the Page Notes tab even after instructions were given for proper viewing and usage of both of them.

Munjeet Singh

June 01, 2011

Exactly what I was looking to achieve - thank you!

I want my client to read the Page Notes as they navigate through the prototype, not try to forsake the user journey by bypassing the in-app navigation with Axure’s Sitemap.

Anthony

February 18, 2012

A bit late to join the discussion (and hopefully not stating the obvious), but you can also name the first page of your prototype index (you can create a cover page if you still need to name your first page something else). This will cause any correctly configured web server to open the page without the sidebars.