Users think looking forward to downloads and search engine results is boring and a waste of time.

Over fifty percent the participants mentioned this specifically. “I prefer to enter into an internet site and get out then. I do not prefer to lull around,” one participant said. Another person complained about slow downloading of graphics: “I like to see one good picture. I don’t like to see tons of pictures. Pictures are not worth waiting around for.”

Study 1 employed a novel way of measuring participants’ boredom. Participants were instructed to pick a marble up from a container on the table and drop it into another container each time they felt bored or felt like doing another thing. Together, the 11 participants moved 12 marbles: 8 marbles while looking forward to a page to download, 2 while waiting around for search results to seem, and 2 when not able to find the requested information. (Participants would not always remember to use the marbles if they were bored). After Study 1, we abandoned the marble technique for measuring boredom. Instead, we relied on spoken comments in Study 2 and a normal subjective satisfaction questionnaire in Study 3.

Conventional Guidelines for Good Writing are Good

Conventional guidelines include carefully organizing the info, using words and categories which make sense towards the audience, using topic sentences, limiting each paragraph to one main idea, and providing the right number of information.

“You can’t just throw information up there and clutter up cyberspace. Anybody who makes an internet site should take the time to prepare the information,” one participant said.

While looking for a recipe that is particular Restaurant & Institution magazine’s website, some of the participants were frustrated that the recipes were categorized because of the dates they starred in the magazine. “This doesn’t help me to find it,” one person said, adding that the categories will make sense towards the user should they were forms of food (desserts, for instance) rather than months.

Several participants, while scanning text, would read only the sentence that is first of paragraph. This suggests that topic sentences are important, as it is the “one idea per paragraph” rule. One person who had been trying to scan a paragraph that is long, “It is not very help me with my homework no problem finding that information. That paragraph should be broken by them into two pieces-one for every topic.”

Clarity and quantity-providing the right amount of information-are extremely important. Two participants who looked over a white paper were confused by a hypertext link at the bottom of Chapter 1. It said only “Next.” The participants wondered aloud whether that meant “Next Chapter,” “Next Page,” or something else.

Additional Findings

We also found that scanning could be the norm, that text ought to be short (or at the very least broken up), that users like summaries additionally the inverted pyramid writing style, that hypertext structure may be helpful, that graphical elements are liked when they complement the written text, and that users suggest there is a role for playfulness and humor in work-related websites. Many of these findings were replicated in Study 2 and they are discussed in the section that is following.

Because of the difficulty with navigation in Study 1, we decided to take users directly to all pages and posts we wanted them to read through in Study 2. Also, the tasks were made to encourage reading larger levels of text instead of simply picking out a fact that is single the page.

Participants

We tested 19 participants (8 women and 11 men), ranging in age from 21 to 59. All had at the least five months of experience with the Web. Participants originated in a variety of occupations, mainly non-technical.

Participants said they normally use the internet for technical support, product information, research for school reports and work, job opportunities, sales leads, investment information, travel information, weather reports, shopping, coupons, real estate information, games, humor, movie reviews, email, news, sports scores, horoscopes, soap opera updates, medical information, and historical information.

Participants began by discussing why they use the net. Then they demonstrated a favorite website. Finally, they visited three sites that people had preselected and performed assigned tasks that required answering and reading questions about the websites. Participants were instructed to “think out loud” through the study.

The three preselected sites were rotated between participants from a set of 18 sites with many different content and writing styles, including news, essays, humor, a how-to article, technical articles, a news release, a diary, a biography, a film review, and commentary that is political. The assigned tasks encouraged participants to learn the written text, instead of look for specific facts. The task instructions read as follows for most of the sites

“Please go to the following site, that will be bookmarked: site URL. Take several moments to see clearly. Go ahead and have a look at anything you desire to. In your opinion, exactly what are the three most critical points the author is trying to help make? When you discover the answers, we will ask you to answer some questions.”

We observed each participant’s behavior and asked questions that are several the websites. Standard questions for every single site included

• “What can you say may be the primary purpose of the site?”
• “How can you describe the site’s model of writing?”
• “How do you want the way in which it really is written?”
• “How could the writing in this website be improved?”
• “How simple to use is the website? Why?”
• “just how much do you really like this site? Why?”
• “Do you have any advice for the writer or designer of this website?”
• “Think returning to your website you saw just before that one. For the two sites, which do you like better? Why?”

Simple and Informal Writing are Preferred

This time was produced by 10 participants, several of whom complained about writing that was difficult to understand. Commenting on a movie review in one site, another person said, “This review needs a rewrite that is complete place it into more down-to-earth language, in order that just anybody could read it and understand.”

Some participants mentioned they like informal, or conversational, writing a lot better than formal writing. “I prefer informal writing, because I like to read fast. I don’t like reading every expressed word, sufficient reason for formal writing, you need to read every word, plus it slows you down,” one individual said.