Website Design - Dissertation Example

Website Design The interface to a website leads the user in and is the first thing the user will come across. For this reason, it is essential that the interface be both accurate and appealing to potential users. However, in the case of domains that wish to attract both adults and children, this is a difficult prospect. This is because adults and children react differently to colours, shapes, text, effects, and so forth. This study was undertaken to determine whether a website could be designed that would appeal to both adult and child users. The methodology undertaken was a review of available published studies that measured adult and child responses to various elements and interactivity with the purpose of identifying those elements that distract or otherwise repel potential users from exploring further. With this information, website designers can begin to develop more effective sites that work to make the site more enjoyable to both adults and children, thereby reducing design costs to employers while increasing site popularity and ‘stickiness’, the amount of time a user spends on the site. Table of Contents Website Design The rise of the internet as a major communications tool between corporations and their clients or potential clients has led to the birth of a new field of marketing ­– that of the website design. By creating a site that appeals to all of the corporation’s potential clients, the website designer can increase a company’s profitability margins while providing widespread community service in the form of appropriate entertainment and shopping experiences. The interface of a website is the first thing the visitor sees when the site appears on their computer monitor and is frequently the deciding factor in whether the visitor will decide to explore the site further or click away to another location. “Your visitors are more likely to leave if they must wait more than a few seconds for your page to download. If you frustrate them with a long wait, they’ll move on to someone else” (Krkosska, 2006). For this reason, it is important to design a site that will instantly appeal to the user and encourage him or her to continue exploring. This is difficult enough when the potential user is of a definable demographic, such as the middle-aged female ex-beauty queen in search of a new salon, but the problem becomes even greater when the business caters to a wide variety of audiences and demographics, such as that represented by companies that appeal to adults as well as children. Yet, just what are the difficulties a website designer faces when devising an interface that appeals to both adults and children? To determine whether a site can be designed that will instantly appeal to the widely different interests of adults and children, this study will look into those website features that are sought out by each as well as those features that tend to make either adults or children seek other sites as well as those elements that people are specifically seeking, such as interactivity or simplicity. By determining what makes people, both older and young, want to visit and remain at a site, website designers can begin to create sites that appeal to all users, increasing their enjoyment of the site while also increasing an employer’s profitability. Interestingly, studies conducted internationally and nationally indicate internet users of capitalist societies such as the United Kingdom and the United States typically form the same general partialities along gender and age lines regardless of their location. In a study conducted at the University of Glamorgan, researchers found that differences between male and female designed websites from a random selection showed similar characteristics as those appearing in the UK. “This is an exciting finding. It shows that these differences cross national boundaries, and have implications for websites globally. Businesses definitely need to sit up and take notice” (Rod Gunn, cited in Harden, 2005). Therefore, studies conducted in the UK, Canada, the United States and internationally will be examined for traits pertaining to age and gender preferences. Literature Review Before discussion of whether a website can be designed to appeal to a wide variety of audiences, such as the age discrepancies held between adult and child, it is important to understand what is meant by the term ‘design’. There are many definitions for the word, which can be used as both a noun and a verb. For the purposes of this discussion, design will be defined in terms of a “purposeful or inventive arrangement of parts or details” (“Design”, 2000) and occasionally in its verb format as in “to create or contrive for a particular purpose or effect; to create or execute in an artistic or highly skilled manner” (“Design”, 2000). Specifically, the word design will be used to apply to the images, graphics, text and other content devised to be used in standardized formats for presentation on the World Wide Web for purposes of providing enjoyment and information. “I characterize design as a conversation […] with an other […] as the conversational partner. The word ‘conversation’ is used in a recognizable and everyday manner” (Glanville, 1999: 88). In terms of creating a site that will fulfill these obligations, it is important to remember the concept of the conversation, ensuring the language does not become so muddied that the audience cannot make sense of what is being communicated. The elements of website design that appeal to the adult internet browser are typically much different from the elements that will appeal to a younger audience. This is as true on the internet as it is in design in other fields. There are several differences that emerge between the way children, especially young children, and adults evaluate websites including the use of color, content, text, graphics and interactivity. For example, children generally have very short attention spans, quickly losing patience with waiting for large files to download or having to read through a great deal of content. The results of studies into the way children tend to use websites indicate strongly that “kids need to be communicated with separately from their parents, with distinct principles of design and usability” (Levin & Labick, 2004). In addition, it has been found that children tend to visit only those sites designed specifically for their age group, with a high degree of discernment regarding what is meant for them versus what is meant for an older or younger child. Younger children prefer websites that include a voice that talks to them in a conversational tone – using ‘I’ and ‘we’ as a means of including the child in the action – as well as being responsive to the child’s mouseclicks. It is important in encouraging younger children to use a site, to include plenty of feedback and reward processes for interaction. These would include animated navigational elements including audio cues when an action has been taken. The more ‘rewards’ of this nature that a young child receives, the more he or she is going to interact with the site, thus the longer it is visited. However, older children would prefer an avatar figure whenever a character is used – a character that provides them with their own first-person viewpoint into the action whom they control. “This form of narrative won’t be appreciated by younger children who can’t internalize alternative viewpoints” (Levin & Labick, 2004). While sound and animation can still serve to interest children and keep them on the site, care must be given to temper it for additive effect and to moderate the sounds and animations to reflect the older audience. The differences between how children relate to websites and how adults relate to websites begin to separate into gender differences as early as pre-adolescence, demonstrating differences in the way men and women value design elements of websites, bringing forward yet more complexity to an already complex issue. For example, studies have demonstrated that young people in general tend to prefer websites that offer a great deal of graphics, video clips, audio clips and interactivity over those sites that offer a plain, straightforward presentation (Fidel et al, 1999; Kafai & Bates, 1997; Miller, Chaika & Groppe, 1996; Wolcott, 1998), a trend that continues into female adolescence, but not necessarily male as will be shown. At the same time, adults as a rule tend to prefer sites that offer straightforward information, reduced emphasis on clicking and nearly instant access to target information (Eysenbach, G. & Kohler, C., 2002). Studies conducted into the website preferences of adolescent girls found that the most preferred aspects of design to this demographic tended to fall along connectivity issues – websites that provided them with the ability to keep in touch with friends and associates via such features as email, instant messaging and message boards (Agosto, 2004: 247). (When discussion is made regarding gender groups termed ‘girls’, ‘boys’, ‘women’, and ‘men’, this is not to imply biological distinctions, but rather traditional behavioral gender preferences defined in Western civilization as ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’.) These results track closely with studies conducted regarding the female gender’s preferred use of the internet, indicating that women value computers as a means of keeping in contact with other people (Brunner, Bennett & Honey, 1998; Honey et al, 1991; Schofield, 1995; Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 1998; Turkle, 1988). In addition, girls tended to enjoy flexible navigation paths that encouraged them to freely explore the site as well as sites that offered a high degree of motility, or interactivity that gave them some control over how the site appeared or what was displayed on screen (Agosto, 2004). In terms of content, girls expressed a preference for those sites that provided them with information in story format as opposed to bullet-pointed factual presentation as well as demonstrating a preference for those sites that somehow related to their personal lives. While girls, and women, tended to favor those sites that demonstrated inclusion of women’s viewpoints and the viewpoints of people of multiple racial and ethnic groups when researching educational and other media, this was not necessarily a requirement for enjoyment of the site (Agosto, 2004). In the Agosto study (2004), it was discovered that girls who associated with highly feminine characteristics tended to prefer websites with highly visual content while those with a high degree of masculine tendencies tended to favor sites with a high degree of content and tended to become irritated with sites that distracted from this content with flashy graphics and unnecessary sound or video. Boys who use the computer tend to prefer sites that offer them straightforward usability with an emphasis on content. Rather than being concerned with exploring their way around the site, boys expressed a desire for linear navigation that enabled them to point directly to their target location (Kafai, 1996; 1998). Other than these exceptions, boys tended to hold the same preferences as girls. When accessing sites for specific information, such as homework help, both adolescent boys and girls demonstrated little patience in awaiting downloads and a preference for a clean presentation with a minimum of expected reading. When choosing sites for entertainment, both genders preferred cool, but clean, graphics that served some sort of purpose rather than cluttering up the page (Nielson, 2005). Because of their impatience with reading excessive content on the web, teenagers generally demonstrated a preference for larger font sizes, regardless if the content was presented in bulleted lists or storyboards. In addition, both boys and girls preferred sites with some form of interactivity, including online quizzes, feedback forms, online voting, games, sharing features and message boards or forums (Nielson, 2005). While women have been shown, in studies connected with adolescent girls, to prefer a more visually pleasing site with ample use of color and graphics, other studies have indicated that the type of site women visit often has a great deal of impact upon the type of design they desire. For example, when navigating to sites offering consumer health information, an activity most often conducted by women, focus groups and usability tests indicate there is a strong preference for sites that offer easy to use and easy to read interfaces that require a minimum level of exploration to find reliable content and illustrations (Eysenbach, G. & Kohler, C., 2002). This indicates that while women prefer greater graphics and more colorful sites, they still place a high degree of value upon the content, often preferring graphics to support in some way the meaning of the site, whether it be to enhance navigational elements or contribute additional meaning or explanation to the text (Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 1998). In terms of actual design elements, women tend to prefer curvilinear lines, less text, more graphics and color and easy to read formats (Harden, 2005). Perhaps because of their tendency to turn to the internet as a means of keeping in touch with friends and relatives, women have also shown a preference for websites written in a more conversational tone. By contrast, adult men tend to favor websites that are designed by men to feature hard, straight lines, formal language and hard-hitting presentations. The University of Glamorgan study found that men do not respond to websites that feature more than a few colors in the interface, prefer solid color text and formal typography. As for language, they favour the use of formal or expert language with few abbreviations and are more likely to promote themselves and their abilities heavily” (Harden, 2005). This tracks closely with other studies that have been conducted rating the overall preferences of adults (Eysenbach, G. & Kohler, C., 2002), as well as the tendency for most websites published to be designed by men or male-dominated teams who instruct followers to design in this mode. Even within the business sector, in which websites catering specifically to men or to women were randomly selected and evaluated equally, it was found that as many as 74 per cent of the sites created were produced in the male-dominated scheme while only 7 per cent were designed to be attractive to the female aesthetic. Research Methodology To understand the differences between those elements of website design that appeal to adults as opposed to those elements that appeal to children, research was conducted into the various studies into marketing design, color theory, attention span, specific physiological concerns and subject matter as it applied to children or adults. Research was also conducted into those studies that surveyed the reasons why adults are on the internet as opposed to the reasons why children are on the internet as these reasons can be widely different and have a profound effect upon what the user is seeking in a website. Careful attention was given to the identification of those elements that particularly appealed or repelled users of either age group. The findings gathered from this research were used to identify the key difficulties website designers face when trying to appeal to children as well as the key difficulties faced when trying to appeal to adults. By comparing these lists, it can be determined whether these difficulties are mutually exclusive, indicating that trying to design a website that will appeal to both children and adults immediately is impossible. This would be the case if, for example, children will only visit sites that are heavy in interactivity while adults tend to avoid sites that require them to ‘work’ for the information they’re seeking. If the lists are not mutually exclusive, comparison will present some solutions in the form of elements that both children and adults are attracted to that can be used within the well-designed interface while avoiding those elements that both find irritating. Analysis of the elements preferred by children and adults will also lend some insight into how designers can structure their designs for maximum user appeal regardless of the age group involved. Statement of Results Through the research, it has been demonstrated that attempting to develop an interface design that would work equally well to attract adult and child visitors would be exceedingly difficult and would have to take many factors into consideration, as well as provide a means of separating users into targeted site areas upon entering. It is equally difficult to determine a site design that would attract women equally as well as it would attract men. The reasons for this are not only developmental, as children of various ages become more capable of identifying and understanding direction, but also social, as can be seen in the discrepancies between male and female adult design preferences. The characteristics of each age group tends to cancel out the preferences of the age group previous or following just as the gender of the individual searching tends to contradict the preferences of the opposite gender. Assessments of websites are generally made as quickly as the blink of an eye. “Researchers found that the brain makes decisions in just a 20th of a second of viewing a webpage” (“First Impressions”, 2006). Thus, a webpage must appeal to the target audience immediately or not at all. To try to create the kind of site that would appeal to men and women, children of all ages and adults, one would need to find a way of justifying all of these disparate preferences into a cohesive whole. Therefore, it is concluded that a website designer could not create a website that would appeal to all ages and genders with one design. While it may be possible to create a site that offers different areas for each age group or gender group, the split second of time available in which to attract the average internet user requires a site to be strongly attuned to its primary target audience or risk losing visitors. Analysis and Discussion Through the various studies that have been researched, it has become clear that the needs of the small child in utilizing a website are vastly different from the needs of a child which are still further different from the needs of a teenager which are yet still different from the needs of an adult. In order to appeal to such a wide range of ages, a website interface must not only ‘talk’ with the young child about what is to be offered, but do so in a way that will not repel the teenage user who will perceive this to be a ‘baby’ site or irritate the adult who simply wants to access the main content information. The following chart illustrates the types of design elements preferred by individuals at various ages and stages of development, as well as by gender. Adult Women Adult Men Adolescent Girls Adolescent Boys Older Children Younger Children Use of Color Variety of meaningful color usage Reduced use of color Variety of color usage Variety of color usage – reduced Variety of color usage Great deal of bright color use Content Tone Friendly, informal Factual, formal Friendly, informal Factual, informal Friendly, informal Friendly, at level Content Type Storyboard, Personal Bullet point, 3rd person Storyboard, Personal Storyboard, Personal/3rd person Storyboard, personal Storyboard, Personal Content Length Short, easy to read Short, easy to read Short, easy to read Short, easy to read Short, inclusion of narrator Short, inclusion of narrator Content Language Conver-sational, lack of abbr. Formal, lack of abbr. Conver-sational, heavy abbr. Conver-sational, Limited abbr. Conver-sational, no abbr. Conver-sational, no abbr. Content Weight Contributes to overall meaning Contributes to overall meaning Some decorative, meaning secondary Some decorative, meaning secondary Entertain, engaging, meaning tertiary Entertain, engaging, meaning tertiary Use of Graphics Prefers supportive graphics Prefers few, if any, graphics Prefers graphics of all types Prefers high quality Prefers animated graphics Prefers animated graphics Type of Graphics Curvilinear Rectilinear Curvilinear, decorative High quality any type Animated avatar format Animated ‘friend’ character Level of Interactivity Medium to low Low High Medium to low High High Type of Interactivity Message boards, communi-cation Blogs, message boards Communi-cation, layout control, etc. Communi-cation, content activity Content activity, exploration Content activity, exploration From the table results, it can be seen that while several areas overlap between age groups and genders, there are enough differences among each group that a site designed for one does not necessarily meet the needs or desires of another. There are blatant differences that preclude the ability to attract all of the groups, such as the differences noted between women’s and men’s design preferences. While men prefer rectilinear shapes and straightforward factual formal presentations, women are attracted to curvilinear designs, conversational approaches and a higher degree of graphic representation. These are differences that cannot compromise without seriously affecting the ‘stickiness’ and therefore the success of the site. However, even between similar groups, enough difference is noted in the studies to reduce the probability of success if compromise is sought. For example, while both the younger and older child prefer plenty of color, graphics and animation, the types of graphics, colors and animations used must be different based upon developmental levels. The older child is capable of putting himself in the place of an avatar character and thereby ‘acting out’ the activities on screen while the younger child cannot understand this connection and requires a ‘friend’ character to walk through the site with them. As a process of developmental behavior, the older child will quickly view a site designed for a younger child as not applying to them and click away. In similar fashion, while the adolescent girl and the adult woman share many characteristics in website preferences on general principles, such as curvilinear design, communication tools and conversational style, the specifics vary widely. The adolescent girl enjoys having a greater degree of interactivity and control over the space being used while the adult woman wishes to enjoy what is already provided with a minimum number of required clicking. Summary/Conclusion The success of a website is based to a large degree upon the number of visitors it can attract and retain. However, the number of websites available continues to grow, making website design a very competitive field that constantly pulls at the attention of the consumer. Studies have indicated that this competition is so fierce that consumers will often decide within the blink of an eye whether or not the site is worth exploring further. In trying to present a site that will attract the largest number of consumers from the widest possible age-range, numerous studies have been conducted to determine what attracts consumers of different ages and gender-types. The conclusions have all supported the idea that a neutral website cannot be devised that would equally attract everyone from the young child to the older adult, male and female. While there remain many similarities between the choices made by women and adolescent girls and those made by men and adolescent boys, the degree of differences based upon developmental levels and outside activities (work, school, etc.) are as wide as those noted between younger and older children. Because these differences are noted to exist along developmental lines rather than cultural, national or educational lines, it is probable that this is a difficulty that will never be overcome. While designers can create a site that includes different areas for each age group or gender-type, this approach does not specifically address the concept of a single design to attract all visitors. It is acknowledged that with more study and very careful design, it may be possible to formulate an introductory homepage that would contain enough elements of each age/gender preference group to encourage a second click; however, this type of design would include the necessity of the above-mentioned scenario, designing different ‘rooms’ for each age/gender group immediately upon opening said homepage specifically keyed to their preferences without overly stereotyping the presentation. Further study should be conducted regarding the specific differences noted between adolescents and their associated adult counterparts to determine the feasibility of companion sites that offer developmentally progressive stages as a means of retaining visitors as they mature. 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Information Seeking and the World Wide Web: A Qualitative Study of Seventh Grade Students’ Search Behavior during an Inquiry Activity. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of San Francisco. Read More