Which way now? Analysing and easing inadequacies in WWW navigation

Abstract This paper examines the usability of the hypertext navigation facilities provided by World Wide Web client applications. A notation is defined to represent the user's navigational acts and the resultant system states. The notation is used to report potential, or “theoretical” problems in the models of navigation supported by three web client applications. A usability study confirms that these problems emerge in actual use, and demonstrates that incorrect user models of the clients' facilities are common. A usability analysis identifies inadequacies in the clients' interfaces. Motivated by the analysis of usability problems, we propose extensions to the design of WWW client applications. These proposals are demonstrated by our system WEBNET which uses dynamic graphical overview diagrams to extend the navigational facilities of conventional World Wide Web client applicaions. Related work on graphical overview diagrams for web navigation is reviewed.

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