After two weeks of aggressive content expansion, we turned our attention to information architecture. The site had grown organically to 8 top-level navigation items—functional, but cluttered. Visitors faced choice overload, and the "Library" label clashed with the "Academy" branding used everywhere else. Today's restructure brings clarity through consolidation.
🧭 The Navigation Problem
The old 8-item navigation structure revealed several issues:
- Semantic confusion: "Library" in the nav vs. "Academy" in page headers and breadcrumbs
- Tool fragmentation: Oracle and Yijing occupied precious top-level slots despite being niche tools
- URL bug: The "Discover" nav linked to
/teachings/while the actual page lived at/discover/ - Hidden gems: Wicha had top-level visibility while Five Arts (with 24+ modules) was buried under Library
🏛️ Academy Restructure: Four Clear Sections
The Academy landing page received a complete overhaul with visual hierarchy and access transparency:
1. Degree Collections (Ritual Curriculum)
All five degrees now display color-coded access badges:
- Open Foundation (Zhongjiao) & Healing (Yikelei (医科类))
- Initiated Cultivation (Dajiao), Ritual (Sanshan), Thunder (Wulei)
The old inline "🔒 Restricted" text has been replaced with professional, scannable badges positioned in the top-right corner of each card.
2. Five Arts Academy (Metaphysics)
Expanded from a single card to 5 focused cards:
- 🏛️ Five Arts Hub - Overview of Mountain, Medicine, Destiny, Divination, Appearance
- 命 BaZi (Destiny) - Four Pillars, Ten Gods, Medical Astrology
- 卜 Qi Men Dun Jia - Strategy, Forecasting, Spiritual Activation
- 相 Feng Shui - Flying Stars, Eight Mansions, Landform
- 相 Mian Xiang - 12 Palaces of Character and Destiny
This gives Five Arts the prominence it deserves—it's no longer hidden behind a generic "Metaphysics" label.
3. Comparative Traditions (NEW Section)
A dedicated section for non-Liuren traditions studied alongside the lineage:
- Wicha Sanctuary Special Access - Thai Saiyasart, Lanna Sorcery, Ruesi, Vedic Roots
- 道德經 Dao De Jing - Complete 81 chapters with commentary
This repositioning acknowledges Wicha's niche appeal while keeping it accessible for dedicated practitioners.
4. Field Tools (Interactive Resources)
Seven tools now centralized on the Academy page, with full descriptions available at the new Tools hub:
- 🧭 Digital Luopan (14+ ring types)
- 💧 Water Methods Hub (San He, Hong Fan, Fu Xing, etc.)
- ⭐ Flying Stars Tool (Xuan Kong chart builder)
- 🔮 Guanyin Oracle (100 sacred lots)
- ☯️ Yijing Oracle (64 hexagrams, now added!)
- 📅 Ritual Calendar
- 📖 Glossary
🔓 Progressive Disclosure: Ungating Advanced Degrees
One of the most significant changes is the shift from hard gatekeeping to preview mode for the three advanced degrees:
Old Approach: "Access Denied"
The old system showed a "🔐 Initiated Practitioners Only" notice with a login link. Visitors couldn't see:
- What the degree covers (learning objectives)
- How the modules are structured
- Why this degree matters in the lineage progression
New Approach: "📋 Preview Mode"
Now visitors to Dajiao, Sanshan, and Wulei can browse:
- Degree overview and core competencies
- Complete module structure (section titles and descriptions)
- Learning progression and prerequisites
What's still gated: Individual module content (ritual instructions, incantations, talismans). The CTA now links to Inquire About Initiation → instead of a dead-end login page.
This aligns with the principle of progressive disclosure—show enough to build trust and desire, but protect lineage-sensitive material until formal transmission occurs.
🛠️ New Tools Hub: Consolidated Reference
The new Practitioner Tools page organizes all interactive resources into three categories:
| Category | Tools Included |
|---|---|
| Feng Shui Instruments | Digital Luopan, Water Methods Hub, Flying Stars Tool |
| Divination | Guanyin Oracle (100 lots), Yijing Oracle (64 hexagrams) |
| Reference | Ritual Calendar, Glossary, Gan Zhi Reference, Shen Sha Reference |
This page is now accessible via the top-level Tools navigation item, but also linked from the Academy page's Field Tools section—giving users multiple discovery paths.
🎨 Visual Design: Access Badge System
The new CSS badge classes provide at-a-glance access tier information:
Public content - Foundation & Healing degrees
Preview mode - Dajiao, Sanshan, Wulei
Niche content - Wicha Sanctuary
These replace the old inline text-based restrictions with professional, color-coded indicators that don't clutter the card layouts.
🔧 Technical Execution: Zero Breaking Changes
The entire restructure involved:
- 8 files modified (navigation data, hero component, Academy page, 3 degree pages, CSS, redirects)
- 1 file created (new Tools hub)
- 0 files moved or deleted
- 1 redirect added (
/teachings/→/discover/)
All old URLs remain functional. The redirect ensures bookmarks pointing to /teachings/ automatically resolve to the correct /discover/ page. No existing links break.
💭 Design Philosophy: Information Scent
Good information architecture follows the principle of information scent—users should be able to predict what they'll find before clicking. The old 8-item nav had weak scent: "Oracle" could mean many things, "Wicha" is opaque to newcomers, "Teachings" vs. "Library" vs. "Discover" created conceptual overlap.
The new 5-item structure strengthens scent through clarity:
- Academy = structured learning paths
- Discover = explore the tradition
- Tools = interactive calculators and references
- Journal = updates and reflections
- Glossary = terminology lookup
Each label tells you exactly what you'll get. No ambiguity, no overlap.
📊 Impact Assessment
What does this restructure achieve?
| Metric | Before | After | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top-level nav items | 8 | 5 | -37.5% (reduced choice overload) |
| Clicks to reach Tools | 2-3 clicks (varied paths) | 1 click (unified hub) | -50% to -66% (faster access) |
| Five Arts visibility | 1 generic card | 5 focused cards | +400% (prominence boost) |
| Advanced degree previews | Hard gated (0% visible) | Preview mode (~30% visible) | +30 percentage points (transparency) |
| Branding consistency | Mixed (Library/Academy) | Unified (Academy) | 100% (semantic clarity) |
🚀 What's Next
With navigation clarity and access transparency established, the focus shifts back to content depth:
- BaZi reference expansions - Gan Zhi combinations, Shen Sha advanced triggers, seasonal adjustment formulas
- Qi Men calculator - Interactive chart builder with pattern recognition hints
- Yijing Oracle enhancement - Add changing lines, hexagram relationships, and King Wen sequence navigation
- Degree progression tracker - Visual roadmap showing prerequisites and learning paths
The foundation is now solid. The architecture is clean. The path forward is clear.
🙏 A Note on Iterative Design
This restructure took under 2 hours to plan, 90 minutes to execute, and 0 breaking changes to deploy. That's the power of modular architecture—when your data lives in centralized JSON files and your layouts use reusable components, major structural changes become low-risk operations.
The lesson: spend time up-front building flexible systems, and future you will thank past you when it's time to pivot. The best architecture is the one that gets out of your way when you need to move fast.
May clarity light the path. 🔦