Designing a directory from scratch, whether of companies, products or services, is always harder than it looks. You think a table and a list of pages will do, then it turns out that filters break your URLs and one company has to sit in three categories at once. Claude and ChatGPT are useful here if you treat them as a conversation partner, not an oracle.
What these tools do well
They quickly propose options, ask clarifying questions and help you see what you missed: relations between entities, edge cases, future growth scenarios. For the stage of sketching and discussing, this saves a lot of time.
How to frame the task
The more specific your context, the more useful the answer. A good prompt includes:
- what kind of directory it is, who uses it and roughly how many records it holds;
- what users search and filter by;
- constraints: stack, hosting, budget, deadlines;
- what matters most to you: speed, SEO, a simple admin panel.
Ask not for a ready solution but for two or three options with pros and cons. That way you choose instead of accepting the first answer.
What to design together with AI
Entities and relations (company, category, city, review), table structure, URL scheme and internal linking. Discuss filters separately: combinations of parameters can generate thousands of near-identical pages, and you need to decide which to index and which to block. The basics to build on are described in the article about technical site audits.
Where AI gets it wrong
- It confidently suggests library functions and settings that do not exist.
- It does not know the real load of your project and may recommend an overly complex scheme.
- It forgets constraints stated at the start of a long conversation.
So anything related to the database, security and performance should be verified: run it, measure it, show it to an experienced developer. General principles for working with these tools are in the article on using AI effectively.
What not to paste into the chat
Passwords, access keys, customers' personal data and internal documents. A description of the structure and anonymized examples are enough for design work.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Claude or ChatGPT?
There is no universal answer. Try the same task in both and compare, and for important decisions cross-check the answers.
Do I still need a developer?
Yes. AI speeds up design, but responsibility for implementation stays with people. If you need a team, take a look at SiteMan.az.