When examining the usability of a website, it is important to consider many varying and dynamic factors to determine a site’s successes and shortcomings. Research from various sources has indicated several factors that appear to have significant weight in aiding a site’s usability. For instance, panel arrangement, theme, visibility of important menu items, and mention of links are all factors that play a large role in the user experience and user satisfaction of a website.
To begin with, an article about eye tracking and web usability (“Eye tracking,” 2011) discusses the underlying processes employed by standard usability tests and their effectiveness with respect to testing websites specifically. Specifically, the study looked at the processes of eye tracking technology and think aloud protocol. The article linked these two processes to see how they interact with each other.
The researchers found that users most often looked at menus that appear to possess task-necessary information or menus with information that was difficult to cognitively process. This is in contrast to menus that did not appear to have task-necessary information or were easy for users to search through, which they looked at less frequently. In this way, this study provides valuable information for the meaning behind eye tracking results, as well as possible reasons as to why these results are so often the case.
Another source presented a study conducted by Chen (2011), [LB4] which examined the differences between the horizontal and vertical arrangements of website interfaces, testing whether or not there was a perceivable difference in search performance between the two. They also took a look at the arrangement of panels and how they affected search performance. Overall, while the comparison of horizontal and vertical navigation yielded no significant results, the researchers found evidence suggesting that panel arrangement did have a significant effect on users’ search performance (p. 258). [LB5] It was suggested that minimizing the distance between the start position and the first icon on a panel, as well as the distance between two icons, can improve search performance.
Additionally, Grobelny, Karwowski, and Drury (2005) examined performance time with respect to menus and icons on web interfaces. Their findings suggest that menus and icons that are going to be used often should remain permanently visible on a site, from any place on the navigation. Interestingly, this study also suggests that a horizontally-oriented interface can be more efficiently utilized by web users, contrasting with Chen’s results, which did not indicate a significant difference in horizontal versus vertical configurations.
Djonov (2007) examined the hierarchical structure of websites in an attempt to understand the elements of effective webpage design. The study revealed several key findings that can be expressed as a hierarchy of valuable “themes” for web design. Overall, Djonov’s work suggests that it is not the effectiveness of each individual page that leads to the success of a website, but each page’s interaction with the other pages. In this way, a theme is created.
For instance, while the content of two separate pages on the same site may be complete, logical, and completely user-friendly, they need to cohesively interact with each other to be truly rhetorically effective. Essentially, it is fundamentally necessary for a site to have a logical and comfortable continuity from page to page in order for its users to trust the content. This article also briefly spoke to the incomparable value of a successfully organized homepage in establishing this theme for the rest of the site.
Additionally, Spyridakis, Mobrand, Cuddihy, and Wei (2007) conducted a study to examine the ways in which web users are affected by the layout of navigation links. They discovered that navigation links that are more explicit will be explored more and liked better. This outright mention of links in navigation can be considered a valuable cue that users often follow and appreciate when exploring a new site.
Michalski (2011) conducted a study in order to see if user preferences played a role in their ability to complete web-based tasks. It is interesting to note that the majority of users were found to be able to relatively quickly change their minds after completing a few tasks on an interface. Michalski’s study yielded significant results in this area, suggesting that people are willing to rapidly alter their opinions and preferences about a certain interface upon gaining experience with it.
Three years later, Michalski (2014) again examined web interfaces and user preferences, this time with respect to color grouping. It was found that toolbars are typically more successful when color areas are broken up into larger parts. Again, Michalski’s work also indicates that these perceptions and preferences are likely to change significantly once a user has completed even one task.