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Of note to me:
1. It is generally found that people make fewer mistakes if the hierarchical structure of the site is broader rather than deeper.2. For sites that must have deeper structures (4 or more levels), Norman and Chin (1998) found in their study of different menu tree structures that users browsing for specific information will find this information faster if the structure is concave (breadth of 8 x 2 x 2 x 8 pages).
3. We also found that users prefer to have all the menu links presented on one web page instead of initially showing only the link categories, which would then show the sub-category menus on mouse-over.
We also found that users prefer to have all the menu links presented on one web page instead of initially showing only the link categories, which would then show the sub-category menus on mouse-over.
That explains all those pages I visit that have left navigation menus that scroll forever!
I like this kind of info, thanks tedster!
This can be lessened by reducing the amount of information presented at one time and properly organizing the navigational structure of the site. For example, in a study comparing three types of structures: pure hierarchical (web pages at one level can only access by a web page directly above or below it), nonlinear (links could be connected to any number of other web pages on the site), and mixed design (hierarchical structure with cross referential links) researchers found that participants recalled more information with the mixed design. The pure hierarchical structure was found to be too restrictive, and the nonlinear design presented too much information at one time (McDonald & Stevenson, 1998). Thus, sites should present only the amount of links that are necessary for navigation -superfluous links will increase the probability that the users will be confused and disoriented.
I've always used the mixed design concept.
And here's the most important part...
Other aids that are beneficial to navigation are the use of sitemaps. Sitemaps may, if done properly, present the structure of a site in a more cognitively manageable way by showing a site's main structure and the various link to that structure.
Here's another study on breadth vs. depth in website structure [ronscheer.com]. They used 5 different tree structures to organize the same information. Overall, broad still beat out deep with the users in this study, but...
The model that subjects chose as "least difficult" took them longer to use than 3 of the others. This suggests something interesting. It's a widely-held belief that Web users hate to waste time, but if they're performing a task that feels easier, they may not mind taking a little longer.
Perception is a very important factor - and one that I've seen researchers leave out of their tests in many cases. There's a paper on the Microsoft site that only looks at the time subjects take to retrieve information from various structures. They assume that the best times will indicate the structures that users will prefer, but THEY NEVER ASK THAT QUESTION!
