Jakob Nielsen:

The art of navigating through hypertext

Communications of the ACM, March 1990, Volume 33, Number 3, Page 296(15), Note: Only Text is presented here; see printed issues for graphics.
Summary:

An analysis of the user-friendliness of hypertext user interfaces shows navigation problems to be the major drawback. Users report they often get lost or confused about their location in a hypertext system. A prototype of hypertext design shows how navigational difficulties can be overcome. Users can be aided by graphic variation in the presentation to reduce homogeneity in the text presentation. Overview diagrams with only a few layers help users locate themselves at a broad or narrow level. A feature that enables users to back out of the system by retracing their steps is one of the most useful. Some designs provide for level-by-level, step-by-step backtracking while others use a history feature that takes the user back through each node only once. Timestamps and footprints of the interaction history also provide information on context.

Descriptors:
  • Hypertext
  • User Interface
  • Software Design
  • User-Friendliness
  • Navigation
  • Analysis
  • Technology.
Acknowledgements. Many people have made constructive comments on earlier versions of this hypertext system. Specific changes to the interface have been made as the result of comments from Uffe Lyngbaek, Cathy Marshall, and Ben Shneiderman, but they are of course not responsible for the way I have chosen to address their criticisms. Helpful comments on earlier versions of this article have been given by Peter Brown, James D. Foley, Christian Gram, Lynda Hardman, Uffe Lyngbaek, Kurt Normark, John Schnizlein, Ben Shneiderman, and Patricia Wright as well as by anonymous Communications referees.

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ABOUTH THE AUTHOR:

JAKOB NIELSEN is assistant professor of user interface design at the Technical University of Denmark. His research interests include usability engineering and hypertext. Author's Present Address: Jakob Nielsen, Technical University of Denmark, Department of Computer Science, Building 344, DK-2800 Lyngby, Copenhagen, Denmark. datJN@NEUVM1.bitnet

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