Improving Web Usability Through Visualization

One reason for poor Web site usability is researchers' lack of understanding about how users surf for information. Predictive Web usage visualizations can help analysts uncover traffic patterns and usability problems. The author describes some of the techniques those in the User Interface Research Group at PARC have developed to visualize content changes, linkage structures, site usage, and so on. He explores how these techniques can be used to identify specific usability problems at large Web sites. As part of his work, he have created a predictive visualization model called Information Scent, in which simulated users help uncover patterns and deficiencies in information accessibility. He demonstrates these techniques using a prototype system called ScentViz to illustrate how Web usage analysis can be enhanced using visualization methods.