Web Design: 10 Additional Research Findings You Should Know
Published on Jun聽5, 2008 (updated Aug聽17, 2024), filed under design. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon or on聽Bluesky.)
Following up on last year鈥檚 post on web design research, here鈥檚 another collection of research findings, this time featuring further reading. I try to watch the work of the Association for Computing Machinery, Human Factors International, and the like.
It is important to establish trust with users from their very earliest experience with your site. This is particularly true in commerce, medical, and insurance where the first impression of trust has a lasting effect. Also, a complex design can mean substantial differences in initial trust, contrary to a simple design.
鈥擫ee and See: Trust in Automation: Designing for Appropriate Reliance (PDF, 340聽KB) (2004).
[鈥presenting users with alternative design solutions, subjective ratings are less prone to inflation and give rise to more and stronger criticisms when appropriate.[鈥results also suggest that usability testing by itself, even when multiple designs are presented, is not an effective vehicle for soliciting constructive suggestions about how to improve the design from end users.
鈥擳ohidi, Buxton, et al.: Getting the Right Design and the Design Right: Testing Many Is Better Than One (PDF, 556聽KB) (2006).
There are three groups of internet shoppers: Risk-averse doubters (15% of the population), open-minded shoppers (40%), and reserved information seekers (45%).
鈥擝arnes, Bauer, et al.: Segmenting Cyberspace: A Customer Typology for the Internet (2007).
2-dimensional graphs are interpreted better than either 3-dimensional graphs or spreadsheets. Color data presentations are a bit easier to interpret than monochrome ones.
鈥擪eller, Gerjets, et al. (2006).
Menu-driven interfaces are perceived as easier to use. Icon-based interfaces are perceived as more useful.
鈥擲aad茅 and Otrakji (2007).
ClearType fonts are easier to both scan and read than non-ClearType fonts: Speed of performance and reading speed is significantly faster with ClearType.
鈥擠illon, Kleinman, et al.: Visual Search and Reading Tasks Using ClearType and Regular Displays: Two Experiments (PDF, 208聽KB) (2006).
Older adults have more difficulty than younger adults when searching for information on the Web. This difficulty is related to the selection of inefficient search strategies, which may be attributable to a lack of knowledge about available Web search strategies.
鈥擲tronge, Rogers, and Fisk: Web-Based Information Search and Retrieval: Effects of Strategy Use and Age on Search Success (2006).
A user鈥檚 beliefs about their own capabilities is a stronger predictor of frustration with computer challenges than age and gender.
鈥擝essiere, Newhagen, et al.: A Model for Computer Frustration: The Role of Instrumental and Dispositional Factors on Incident, Session, and Post-Session Frustration and Mood (2006).
Mood matters. Consumers who were in a good mood spent more time browsing and less time to make a purchase than consumers who were in a poor mood.
鈥擷ia (2002).
Men are slightly more intense internet users than women, men use the internet more than women as a destination for recreation, and men pursue and consume information online more aggressively than women.
鈥擣allows: How Women and Men Use the Internet (PDF, 816聽KB) (2005).
About Me
I鈥檓 Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I鈥檓 an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I鈥檝e worked as a technical lead and engineering manager for companies you use every day (like Google) and companies you鈥檝e never heard of, I鈥檓 an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O鈥橰eilly and Frontend Dogma.
I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also with respect to politics and philosophy. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my experiences and perspectives. (Please share feedback: Interpret charitably, but do be critical.)