We studied the effects of menu type, navigation path complexity and spatial ability on information retrieval performance and web disorientation or lostness. Two innovative aspects were included: (a) navigation path relevance and (b) information gathering tasks. As expected we found that, when measuring aspects directly related to navigation…

Research on cognitive modeling of information search and Web navigation emphasizes the importance of "information scent" (the relevance of semantic cues such as link labels and headings to a reader's goal; Pirolli & Card, 1999). This article shows that not only semantic but also structural knowledge is involved in navigating the Web…

Fifty-five undergraduate students read pages on a website presenting text about familiar and unfamiliar geographic locations in the United States. Learners navigated the site by having available or unavailable navigational buttons showing the cardinal compass directions between the map locations in the presence or absence of a cartographic map…