A STUDY OF WEBSITES' LAYOUT AND USER IMPRESSIONS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

In terms of finding skill related knowledge on informative websites, the users’ impression on first use significantly affects their experience with any given learning website. This article attempts to explore the factors affecting user impression and the major layout types of webpage used in web-based learning system. This study implemented surveys, comprised of three questionnaires, concerning popular websites, semantic adjectives for describing websites and user first impression. A total of 260 college students participated in the study. Factor analysis and multidimensional scaling were used to derive the main factors of user impression and major layout types of webpage. The results showed three major factors affecting user impression were, pleasure, arousal, and readability. Moreover, three webpage types of web-based learning systems were established, graphics type, informative type, and both graphics and information type; these types closely relate to two dimensions of favorability and content richness.