Forty-two subjects completed three tasks using either a 30-link or a 155-link Web page. Three treatments were used for each Web page design -- one-column, two-column and three-column link arrangements. In all of the 30-link Web page treatments, the link arrangements fit on a single page and did not require scrolling. For the 155-link Web page treatments, all link arrangements required multiple pages and scrolling. Subjects completed the study using only one treatment for either the 30- or 155-link Web page.
Subjects randomly selected a task list of three links to search for on the assigned Web page. The subjects that used the 155-link Web pages had a significantly faster search time using a three-column link arrangement, while the two-column link arrangement had the slowest search time. Results for the 30-link Web pages did not show a significant difference in search times for any specific link arrangement.
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SHORE- Student HCI Online Research Experiments, University of Maryland, CMSC 434, Spring 1997
This study was conducted as a part of CMSC434 , Human Factors in Computer and Information Systems, taught by Ben Shneiderman in the Department of Computer Science, at the University of Maryland, College Park .