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# Improving 2IA.org Top Navigation and Page Briefs

## Executive summary

2IA already has a serious editorial stance, a recognizable voice, and a clearer public-interest mission than many early-stage rights sites. The live site exposes six primary navigation items, a sitewide search overlay, an archive taxonomy, a methodology page, and a broad set of utility/trust pages. But the primary navigation is still **trust-heavy and discovery-light**: users can easily find governance pages, yet they do not get equally clear top-level routes for **Issues**, **Research**, **Resources**, or a future **Organizations** directory. Meanwhile, several pages reuse near-identical trust language and footer blocks, which makes different pages feel more repetitive than distinctive. citeturn1view0turn2view1turn9view0turn9view1turn10view0turn10view1turn10view2

The recommended default top navigation for 2IA is:

**Start Here · Issues · Research · Resources · Organizations · Methodology · About · Support**

Use the wordmark/logo as the Home link, keep search as a persistent icon or utility control, and move **Privacy Policy**, **Contact**, **Lawful Contact**, **Newsletter**, **Volunteer**, **Corrections and Right of Reply**, and **Public Records and FOIA** into the secondary navigation/footer and into contextual modules on relevant pages. This gives 2IA a structure that is easier for first-time readers, journalists, and researchers to understand while preserving the trust architecture it already does better than most comparable sites. citeturn1view0turn9view0turn9view1turn9view2turn10view0turn10view1turn10view2

This recommendation also aligns with the strongest patterns used by official comparator sites. EFF foregrounds **Issues**, **Our Work**, **Take Action**, **Tools**, and **Donate**; the ACLU foregrounds **About**, **Issues**, **Our Work**, **News**, and **Take Action/Give**; EPIC emphasizes a deep **Issues** taxonomy plus a digital-library model; Freedom of the Press Foundation combines reporting, tools, a tracker, training, action, and donations; Open Rights Group separates campaigns, news, blog, research, and membership; and Bellingcat clearly splits investigations, resources, workshops, and donations. 2IA’s own internal reports point in the same direction, arguing for durable layers of **trust pages, issue hubs, guides/toolkits, investigations**, and a dedicated **Organizations** vertical with stable profile URLs. citeturn8view0turn0search2turn8view1turn8view2turn7view4turn8view3 fileciteturn0file14 fileciteturn0file6

## Research basis and design criteria

This report is based on four inputs: the live 2IA site as it appeared on May 17, 2026; the uploaded 2IA research reports supplied in this conversation; official documentation from WordPress and Google Search Central; and official/public pages from comparator organizations. Site analytics, Search Console data, internal search logs, and formal user-testing results are **unspecified** in public sources. That matters, because 2IA’s own privacy page states that the theme does not add analytics, tracking pixels, or unnecessary cookies by default, so these recommendations necessarily rely on observed information architecture and comparator logic rather than conversion-rate data. citeturn9view0turn11search6

The current site is stronger than a simple brochure. The homepage already frames 2IA as “independent public-intelligence research,” links users toward Start Here and Methodology, exposes a browser-local “Who Cares” routing tool, and introduces core issue areas such as surveillance, OSINT, anonymity, influence, and civil-liberties design questions. The Research Archive also already describes publication lanes for **issue hubs, investigations, policy analyses, guides, toolkits, case studies, campaigns, and updates**, which is a far richer editorial model than the primary navigation currently signals. citeturn1view0turn2view1

The main structural problem is therefore not lack of seriousness. It is **mismatch**. The header still emphasizes broad trust pages, while the body and archive imply a much more developed editorial ecosystem. Start Here currently presents a dense wall of dossier cards; Support, Privacy Policy, Contact, Newsletter, Volunteer, and Corrections all repeat a very similar “Proudly Civil-Libertarian / Civic operating standard” block and an almost identical footer-navigation pattern. That repetition weakens page distinctiveness and makes it harder for each URL to answer a specific user question quickly. citeturn2view0turn3view1turn9view0turn9view1turn10view0turn10view1turn10view2

Official comparator sites suggest a more user-intent-driven model. The ACLU routes users through issues, work, news, and action. EFF explicitly separates issues, work, action, and tools. EPIC combines a deep issue taxonomy with a digital-library/publications structure. Freedom of the Press Foundation distinguishes reporting, software, a tracker database, and digital-security education. Open Rights Group cleanly separates campaigns, research, news, blog, and membership. Bellingcat is especially relevant to 2IA’s audience because it splits **Investigations**, **Resources**, and **Workshops**, and supports multiple language editions. Access Now complements this with a strong resources/help model for at-risk users. citeturn0search2turn8view0turn8view1turn8view2turn7view4turn8view3turn5search1turn5search11

Two implementation constraints also shape the recommendation. First, WordPress is a good fit for this job: official documentation confirms that block themes support full-site editing, reusable templates, and patterns, while WordPress internationalization guidance emphasizes coding strings so translators can localize the theme without changing source code. Second, Google’s documentation favors **simple URL structures**, clear site names, breadcrumbs, and structured data, which is relevant because Google currently shows a stale or inconsistent search-result title for the 2ia.org domain even though a direct open resolves to the live 2IA site. That site-name/title mismatch should be treated as an urgent metadata and indexing cleanup task. citeturn6search0turn6search4turn6search12turn6search1turn11search4turn11search0turn11search1turn11search14turn0search0turn1view0

## Navigation models compared

The options below are judged against the live 2IA header, the site’s existing archive taxonomy, and the way comparator organizations separate issues, research/work, resources/tools, and action/support. citeturn1view0turn2view1turn8view0turn0search2turn8view1turn8view2turn7view4turn8view3

| Top-nav model | Example top-nav set | Strengths | Weaknesses | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current trust-first | Home · Start Here · Research Archive · Methodology · Support · About | Conveys seriousness and governance | Buries topics, utility, and differentiation; “Home” duplicates the logo; “Research Archive” sounds internal | Transitional state only |
| Lean orientation model | Start Here · Issues · Research · Methodology · About · Support | Clearer than current; simple header | Still under-serves practical resources and directory value | Small-screen fallback |
| Issue-first model | Issues · Research · Resources · Methodology · About · Support | Strongest topical discovery and SEO | Weaker first-time onboarding for general public readers | Mature publication with stronger brand recognition |
| Newsroom-first model | Research · Issues · Analysis · Resources · About · Support | Good for journalists and repeat readers | Too publication-centric for a mixed public audience | Investigative outlet more than civic resource |
| Directory-first model | Organizations · Issues · Research · Resources · Methodology · Support | Strong differentiator; good long-tail search potential | Overpromises if the directory is thin at launch | Phase-two expansion, not day-one IA |
| Resource-first model | Start Here · Resources · Issues · Research · Methodology · Support | Maximizes immediate utility | Can make the site feel like a toolkit shelf instead of a research publication | Service-heavy site |
| Campaign-first model | Issues · Take Action · Resources · About · Support | Very effective for mobilization | Too advocacy-forward for 2IA’s non-operational, records-first positioning | Campaign organizations, not best for 2IA |
| Recommended hybrid | Start Here · Issues · Research · Resources · Organizations · Methodology · About · Support | Balances onboarding, evergreen issues, fresh reporting, usefulness, trust, and differentiation | Requires disciplined page build-out so every nav item feels substantive | Best overall fit |