Interactivity and user preference for website navigational structures.

• Main Author: Sharon De Castro.
• Other Authors: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Information systems::Information interfaces and presentation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/42717
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Interactivity is a much sought after, but little understood, commodity in the nineties. One reason may be the difficulty in defining interactivity which, as it turns out, may be made up of several components. The most basic component relates to choice. While many might agree that the availability of choices does not, in itself, constitute interactivity, it is also true that there cannot be interactivity if a user has no choice. The interactive structure of a website determines the choice of pathways available to a user navigating through the material. This study attempts to understand how interactive structures may affect user preference for a website. Specifically, it investigates user preference for two interactive structures in relation to websites containing news stories. Understanding how users react to navigational structures will contribute to the development multimedia design principles, which impact on the way commercial websites are designed.