Transcript Folie 1 - univie.ac.at

Usability and Navigation in Web Pages
"The Alertbox: Current Issues in Web Usability", by Jakob Nielsen
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/
"Is Navigation Useful?", by Jakob Nielsen
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000109.html
"Website navigation is useful!", by Adam Baker
http://www.merges.net/theory/20010604.html
"How Users Read on the Web", by Jakob Nielsen
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
Example Pages, Discussion:
http://www.aon.at/
http://www.google.at/
http://www.bregenz.at/
http://www.orf.at/
http://www.nngroup.com/
http://www.amazon.at/, http://www.ebay.at/
http://www.univie.ac.at/, http://www.informatik.univie.ac.at/
How users get around websites
Users can arrive at any page within a website by a number of
means: a link, a search engine, a directory, a software
program's "about box", typing a web address directly, and so
on. There is often no way to predict how a user will end up at
any website. Therefore, web pages can't be isolated from
the rest of the site if the site is to be successful and have lots
of users. Visitors need some way of getting around the
website:
– navigation (a menu of some kind)
– hypertext (links right in the content)
– search
A search mechanism is a must for fairly large websites, or for
those that can't be assigned an easily-understood architecture
(in other words, a simple site map). Many users head straight
to search in order to find what they're looking for
Is Navigation Useful?
"users look straight at the content and ignore the
navigation areas" This has been proven during tests since
1993 (with the browsers Mosaic; Netscape 1, 2, and 3; and IE
4, 5 and 6). User studies find out:
– users comment on the content first; if the content is not
relevant, then they don't care about the design
– when they arrive on a page, users ignore navigation
bars and design elements: they look at the content
– users don't understand where they are in a website's
information architecture
– users are extremely goal-driven and look only for the
one thing they have in mind - they don't spend much
time on promotions for anything else
What is "navigation"?
Navigation is basically a menu mechanism: something that
lets the user jump from one part of a website to another.
Essentially, navigation can be any mechanism that constantly
gives users access to certain sections of a website.
Why navigation is useful
Navigation, which can be made too complex if not carefully
managed and restricted, is tremendously useful, even though
Nielsen claims that users don't really notice it. Here are a few
reasons why navigation is useful:
– it gives users an idea of the scope of the website
– it is a terrific fallback mechanism (when a search fails)
– it reduces users' cognitive overhead (Hypertext links
are embedded in a context - the user needs to
understand this context, navigation should to be very
simple to comprehend - only a few words)
– In pursuit of their goal, users often rely on search as their
main hunting strategy
– users rarely look at logos, mission statements, slogans, or
any other elements (in particular they ignore advertising)
– If a page does not appear relevant to the user's current
goals, then the user will ruthlessly click the Back button
after two to three seconds
– if users don't understand a certain design element, they
ignore it
Nielsen concludes, that "Navigation is overdone" on many
web sites. The spoke-design where every page is linked to
every else page leads to reduced usability.
Generic Links
There is no reason to mention all features of the site on all
pages. Instead, select a very small number of highly useful
features and limit pervasive linking to maybe five or six things.
Users turn to search when they are lost, and you cannot
predict when that may happen. Less is more: having a small
number of standard links on every page makes it more likely
that users will notice those links they do need.
In contrast, a link like "how to contact us" can safely be
relegated to the home page, which is where users will go
when they need it. (Exception: Contact info also needs to be
on order confirmation pages.)
Structural Navigation
What is the probability that a user will go from looking at
hairdryers to looking at grunge music? Why not just go back
to the home page? Provide links to all levels of the hierarchy
above the current location:
– the context of the current page (how it is nested) allows
users to interpret the page better (you don't just know
that you are looking at product 354, you also know that
it belongs to the widget product family)
– the links allow users to go directly to a higher level of
the site in case the current page is not what they
wanted, but they do want something similar
Without structural links, pages become orphans that are
not contextualized. And since users often arrive at pages
through search or other means that bypass the higher-level
navigation pages, it is necessary to provide a path back to
these higher levels.
Local Navigation
Users rarely land directly at the desired page, especially when
using a search engine. But they often get close.
– similar products that are a little cheaper or a little more
expensive than the current product
– related products that go well with the current one (only
cross-sell relevant products, not overstocked ones)
– products that differ from the current product in some
important dimension (for example, link to a color printer if
the user is looking at a black-and-white printer)
– different versions of the current product (for example, the
same blouse in yellow) - (attribute manipulation?)
– earlier or later versions of the discussed topic background
information
– author biographies and lists of other articles by the same
author
– a message board or other discussion about the current
topic
– news about the current topic (but not all news)
Structure Can Help
Hypertext research from the 1980s showed that structure does
help users navigate. Structure has been under-valued on
the Web for four reasons:
– Most Pages have Miserable information architectures
that mirror the way the company internally thinks about the
content and not the way users think about the content.
– Most page designs have hidden the important structural
information among a flood of irrelevant information (say,
links to all possible other options), preventing users from
identifying the structure.
– All Web browsers have neglected the need to visualize
structural information.
– Users are so impatient on the Web that they don't take
time to learn about any individual website and its
structure - instead, they proceed to the next site.
It is important to treat loyal users so well that they will want to
learn more about the site (and to make it possible to do so),
while maintaining a design that is approachable by the larger
number of users who just want to visit briefly.