Where sitepath diagrams are quick & dirty and primarily visual, and process flows are concerned with the logic of transactions and transitions, user journeys by contrast are richly textual, information-dense written descriptions of users goal-oriented movement through a taxonomy.

Textually detailed user journeys in this sense can be hugely complex entities, into which a great deal of thought has been poured. They seek to articulate - to the extent that this is even possible - the balanced nuances of experience as a user moves through a site.

In this sense, user journeys are tightly coupled to personas, and to the detailed understanding of a user's motivations and interests contained within them.

User journeys are both explanatory and predictive, inasmuch as they can be used to both analyse and map current user behaviour, as well as highlight new future behaviour. In this latter sense, they can also then inform wireframes and taxonomies for future site development.