Re: "image analysis heuristics" (ISSUE-66)

Hi Steve,

Ian wrote:

>>As a general rule, people don't follow references.

Steve  wrote:

> Can you provide support for this statement?

The Usability Lab at Wichita did some research into Link Location some
time ago (It is Michael Bernard, Spring Hull, & Denise Drake's classic
2001 study). They studied academic type information - the sort you'd
expect a user to read much on screen as they would on paper (ie skim
first, then in detail, in the "right" order). Their conclusions:

"Several observations can be made from this study. First, no
significant differences between the four link arrangements were
detected in terms of search accuracy, time, or efficiency. This
suggests that the link arrangement for documents within a single frame
does not have a great affect on its actual navigability."

"However, there were significant subjective differences between the
link arrangements favoring the embedded links. That is, participants
indicated that they believed that embedding the links within a
document made it easier to navigate, easier to recognize key
information, easier to follow the main idea of the passages, and
promoted comprehension. Moreover, participants significantly preferred
the Embedded link arrangement to the other arrangements. Conversely,
placing links at the bottom of a document was perceived as being the
least navigable arrangement, and was consequently least preferred."

"Although no significant objective differences were found, the
consistent results of the subjective perceptions of link navigability,
as well as general preference, suggest that the Embedded link
arrangement is perceived as being the superior format for online
documents within a single frame. For this reason, it is suggested that
for documents using a format similar to the type tested in this study,
embedded links should be considered."
http://www.surl.org/usabilitynews/32/links.asp

Best Regards,
Laura
-- 
Laura L. Carlson

Received on Monday, 8 February 2010 17:13:53 UTC