| Websites typically present the same navigational aid to all users, often with aesthetics or programming convenience dictating the design of that navigational aid. This study possessed two main purposes for improving the selection and design of website navigational aids. The first purpose of this study was to examine the effect of hypermedia navigational aid style on user performance. A directional hypothesis predicted that a graphical site map navigational aid leads to better user performance during website information search tasks than does a traditional textual menu of hyperlinks. The second purpose of this study was to determine whether cognitive style served as an intervening variable on user performance with each navigational aid style. Non-directional hypotheses predicted that cognitive style influenced the effect on user performance of each navigational aid style. A further non-directional hypothesis predicted that one navigational aid style is more effective than the other is, for each cognitive style. Participants performed information search tasks using one of the two navigational aids, and then completed a cognitive styles assessment. Participants' performance on the information search tasks were measured according to correctness of results, elapsed time, number of mouse clicks, and participant usability ratings of the websites. Statistical analyses of these user performance metrics showed that one navigational aid style had a slight advantage over the other in the general case, and that cognitive style moderately influenced the effectiveness of the navigational aids. |
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