Designing Web Navigation

SUMMARY

Information seeking is a broad term that refers to all of the activities people engage in while hunting for information. There are decades of academic research in this area. Existing models of information seeking—though perhaps generic and abstract—can inform web navigation design. If anything, they teach us to focus on users and their needs, rather than on the technology. User research, a topic discussed in Chapter 7, is largely about understanding how visitors navigate and seek information on your site.

Studies in information seeking also reveal that finding information is complex and varied. Sometimes site visitors know what they are looking for, but often their information need is vague. The different modes of seeking people use directly impacts how they interact with your site. For instance, when focused on a specific information goal (known-item seeking), people may completely overlook page elements and experience banner blindness or even navigation blindness.

People move through different stages or states in while seeking information. It's not a linear process. The Berrypicking Model describes how people zigzag through online resources and change search strategies rapidly. Perhaps more importantly, users' confidence can vary as they seek information. As Carol Kuhlthau shows, visitors may be optimistic at the beginning, but as they progress and encounter more information, their confidence may dip. This is a critical point where people either proceed, back up and return ...