The travel metaphor as design principle and training aid for navigating around complex systems
Proceedings of Third Conference of the British Computer Society Human-Interactio on People and computers III
Extending hypertext for learning: an investigation of access and guidance tools
Proceedings of the fifth conference of the British Computer Society, Human-Computer Interaction Specialist Group on People and computers V
Using memory for events in the design of personal filing systems
International Journal of Man-Machine Studies
Wayfinding strategies and behaviors in large virtual worlds
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
How people revisit web pages: empirical findings and implications for the design of history systems
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies - Special issue: World Wide Web usability
Understanding navigation and disorientation in hypermedia learning environments
Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia
Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia
Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia
Navigation and browsing in hypertext
Hypertext: theory into practice
How do people organize their desks?: Implications for the design of office information systems
ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS)
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
Reducing cognitive workload of a computer-based procedure system
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
Efficient electronic navigation: A metaphorical question?
Interacting with Computers
Effect of high-level content organizers on hypertext learning
Computers in Human Behavior
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We compare user navigation performance using two hypertext information sites of identical node structure but embedded in different metaphors. The first is based upon the layout of a house and is consistent with Euclidean space. The second represents social links between people for which a spatial metaphor is not apparent. Search for targets within the structures, and the speed of their subsequent retrieval on a second search, is compared in a 2 × 4 × 2 factorial design manipulating: metaphor (spatial or non-spatial); navigation, tools (participants have both a site map and bookmark tool, one of these, or no tools at all) and the time pressure under which navigation is carried out (paced or unpaced). A strong main effect is found in which the spatial metaphor produces higher performance under all conditions. Similarly, time pressure has the general effect of trading-off a faster initial search with less efficient retrieval later. However, navigation tool use is highly context dependent and sometimes counterintuitive: certain conditions show poorer performance with two navigation aids than one. We argue that navigation tools are mediating structures for activities, such as bookmarking and learning the structure of the site, which represent cognitive investment for future retrieval. In this view, user performance is optimized by the balance of two potentially antagonistic conditions. First, the usability of tools and metaphor must free cognitive resources for planning; but also, the difficulty of the task and the need for planning must remain visible to the user. The implications for design are discussed.