Navigation in Hypertext

The Most Used Navigation Aids

Kotwica has carried out a survey on web site navigation of hypertext users. This is the summary of that survey:

Attendance properties:

78 percent have been on the web more than two years (46 percent for more than 4 years),

75 percent report to have a fast or super fast web connection

75 percent spend some or all of their time on the web as part of their job descriptions. This population also reports using the web most often for information gathering (as opposed to gaming or shopping online).

First navigation approach:

64%: quickly scan the home page for a relevant link and go forward through the web site from there

17%: go back and forth from the home page to subsequent layers

12%: use a site map

The metaphor most often selected (56 percent) from a selective list to describe the navigation of frequently visited web sites was a hierarchical structure (e.g., a branching structure such as a tree). The city/map/road metaphor was another often selected metaphor on both the survey and the comments section.

Kotwica concluded by the question: whether we are creating web site navigation in an image of what we already know in the "real world", or whether navigation metaphors are an attempt to apply familiar descriptions to a new medium?

Last modified: 6 Nov 2002 by Kathy Nguyen Dang