Mediating electronic product catalogs

Many user interface design issues for electronic shopping environments also apply to WISs. Compared to traditional information systems, WIS users have much more control of the user interaction, yet they are often unable to find sites they know exist or become disoriented and lost in a maze of hyperlinks. Search engines should be mandatory for all large Web sites. Ideally, the search engine would go beyond Boolean keyword searches by incorporating category pick lists, radio buttons, and other features that facilitate search. Search engines direct users to specific pages within a site without ever going through the home page, making it difficult for designers to anticipate a user’s navigation path through the site. Thus, every Web page must have consistent navigation links (such as site map or index) to move around on the site. Clearly communicate the site structure on the home page and link to the master index from every page. Do not waste opportunities to link to related areas. Hyperlinks aid the discovery of new and useful information and allow the user to bore down into more details as needed. The links should be as context specific as possible. Hyperlinks are the essence of the Internet—use them! The user interface is an essential link between the customer and the retail store in Web-based shopping environments. It is our belief the growth of Internet retail sales will depend, at least partially, on these interface design issues. c

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