What is
intuitive to one person is not necessarily intuitive to another. Better put,
where I might look for information amongst navigation menu headings on a site
is not necessarily where another would look.
For
example, there’s a lot of companies that use catchy phrases to describe their
human resources intranet or section such as:
- My Work
- @Work
- You and (insert company name)
Quite
frankly, I think these labels are crap. It’s akin to shaker sweaters, stirrup
pants, Atkins diets and other passing fads and pop influences. My preference?
Just call it “Human Resources” or “HR”. But that’s just my opinion...
Are those
other labels wrong? Not necessarily. “@Work” may resonate as more intuitive at
one company that has a completely different culture and type of employee then
another organization. In other words, I would prefer to see “HR” but another
employee may prefer “@Work.” Based upon my exposure and work with dozens of
corporate intranet clients the number one employee complaint of the intranet
remains the same: “I can’t find anything!”
Australian-based
Iain Barker,
a user experience specialist with Step Two Designs, says that users follow
preferred paths guided by intuitive
information scents. “Most research into the way users navigate a site reveals
that people follow one path and then, when that doesn't provide the information
they require, they retrace their steps using the back button, until they find
another suitable path to follow,” says Barker. “Users can find this process
frustrating and after following a couple of unsuccessful attempts, give up on a
site.”
Information
scent
Information
scent describes how users choose categories or options when they seek
information on a site.
Information
scent therefore is the intuitive linkage and relation of related content.
Strong information scents offers content with context – meaning and definition
(literally or by association). Weak information scents confuse and lose users
with little or no context.
“When
presented with a list of options users will choose the option that gives them
the clearest indication (or strongest scent) that it will step them closer to
the information they require,” says Barker. “Navigation headings offer
surprisingly weak information scent. Navigation headings are typically limited
to one or two words, which often isn't enough to clearly distinguish one
heading from another and give a clear indication of the content offered in that
section of the site.”
While
many people will opt to navigate the sites architecture and various categories,
others will use search or the site map. A strong site map is recommended. Some
sites however will use the site map approach to the home page. A good consumer
site example is Walmart’s
corporate site which groups like information by links right on in the main
content window:
Robertson
offers three tips to making a stronger information scent:
- Identify the pages where
users require more information to aid their decision.
- Typically this is the
homepage and section pages.
- Devote part of the content
area on each of these pages to giving more context to the navigation
options the user has.