The internet is an ever-expanding medium of communication; capable of connecting users with masses of information and countless services. In such a popular and competitive market, it is imperative that websites are both practical and pleasant to navigate. Using an eye-tracker, we obtained objective measurements of complexity with subjective ratings of complexity and aesthetics, to explore judgments arising from the perception of university homepages. As expected, high levels of perceived complexity resulted in low aesthetic ratings. Interestingly, fixation count correlated negatively with complexity and positively with aesthetics; a novel finding. We argue that high complexity and negative aesthetic appraisals are a result of cognitive overload due to the limited capacity of working memory. We suggest ways in which web designers can avoid information overload, by complying with the known limits of human cognition, to maximize the positive interaction between webpage and user.Interaction Science
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
334 Leonard St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.