My personal Backpack account is close to 300 pages and still growing. I’ve been asked how I manage them, and, I’ll tell you, I’ve tried a bunch of different approaches. These, though, are my favorites.

I prefix all my page titles with three-letter category codes. For example:
ACT = accounts
COM = computer-related
MED = medical

That way, everything groups neatly in the sidebar:
ACT domains
ACT e-mail
ACT miscellaneous
COM licenses
COM software & services
COM support sites
MED breast cancer
MED fatigue & sleep disorders
MED reconstructive surgery

When a category gets bulky (somewhere before 10 pages), I break it into sub-categories, using another three-letter code. For example, SHP (shopping) became SHP PRO (products) and SHP STO (stores) like this:

SHP PRO car
SHP PRO christmas
SHP PRO digital camera
SHP STO apparel & accessories
SHP STO bags & luggage
SHP STO department stores
SHP STO discount sites

But, eventually, even the sub-category lists get long. When that happens (or when you hit about 100 pages total), you’ll probably need real navigation. Fortunately, Backpack makes that easy, too.

When a sub-category gets big, I create a “cover page” for it, full of links to all its individual pages. Then, I remove the individual pages from the sidebar, leaving only the sub-category’s cover page.

It really tidies things up. For example, to get rid of the long list of SHP STO pages in my sidebar, I (1) made a cover page called “SHP STO ALL STORES” and (2) filled it with links to all the other SHP STO pages (apparel, bags, department stores, etc.). I (3) removed those individual SHP STO pages from the sidebar, and now, when I want to find a store, I (4) click on SHP STO ALL STORES. Up pops the page of sub-categories, each linked to their own page full of stores.

Voila! Your own little navigation system. Web designers would call your home page the first tier, the “cover page” the second tier, and the category pages the third tier, because that’s the way you click through them. Studies show that people start to get annoyed when they have to click four or more times to get to what they want, so this simple, three-click system should keep you happy :-)

Just don’t delete the codes. One of the beauties of the three-letter system is that “My Pages” becomes a really useful, automatically-updated site map. Forgotten how you categorized something? Scan through the neatly organized list on My Pages. Want to make sure your cover page includes everything? Check it against the alphabetized group on My Pages.

And, when you make a new page for one of these cover-paged categories, just save it. The three-letter prefix in the title will put it right next its cover page in the sidebar. If you’re in a hurry, you can always add the link later.

I hope this helps. And, I hope it isn’t too confusing. Feel free to ask questions.

Thanks for this info.
I basically use the same concept, but because I don’t have so many categories, I use numbers such as [0010], [0120], [0830], [0999], etc. in steps of ten (leaves me 9 pages inbetween which I could fill up if the need arises). Everything starting with “0” is important stuff, “1” is “private”, “2” designates “work”, “3” files, etc. Because I use the same order as I always have when I still used a calendar/notebook, I can find things easily.

BTW: [0999] is my “incoming” page. I just need to remember one e-mail address, send things to that page and then move them to the others.

kayels – this is very interesting. Question, I’m looking at BackPack as a potential solution for info management at my organization, but I was concerned about its ability to manage pages. How flexible is BackPack in this regard? I was concerned that the right sidebar would just turn into a massive list of every single page on the site, which is not ideal. I was hoping I had the ability to create high level pages as you describe. with links to lower level pages. Is this relatively easy using HTML? Or does backpack have a GUI for this?

Also – I’m a bit confused about the BackPack approach to home pages – in a standard intranet all users login and see the same home page. Is this how backpack works? Or does every user create their own homepage?

Would tags help at all?

That makes sense for page organization.

What about my “home page” question? Do all users have the same home page? Or is this just their own items?

Tags might not solve this for all, but they would be a nice addition!

Jim

I have the same question as chriscos. What’s the default home page for users? More to the point, can I set the newsroom as the default opening page for all users?

What’s the general default on the home page of owner ?

Seems to me:

- All users on the same account get their own homepage.
- Though the URL is the same for all (xxx.backpackit.com/homepage), the content is distinct, and users can change the page title and any other content.
- Each users’ homepage can be shared, and other users can place it in their own sidebars.

I can see why this approach has been taken, but it does seem inconsistent with the common usage of the word ‘homepage’ and many users’ view of how a website works. Though the default page title tips you off (u”sersX’s home page”).