瀏覽輔助工具與超文本資訊架構適用性研究

Abstract

自全球資訊網問世以來，其前所未有的豐富內容與強大的超連結的特性，為人們帶來不少資訊搜尋上的便利，然而，在眾多的資訊中，人們仍常困擾於「網路迷途」情況的發生。許多研究者指出，這乃是由於資訊量的負載過大，超出了使用者的負荷。因此，瀏覽器均具有輔助瀏覽的功能，來協助使用者瀏覽網際網路，避免迷途現象的發生。不過，即使應用了輔助工具協助瀏覽，迷途現象卻並未就此消失。研究者認為，輔助導覽工具由於其使用特性各自不同，故導致面對不同網頁架構情形時，有其不同的適用性，因此，本研究藉由建立瀏覽輔助工具與網頁資訊架構之間適用上的關聯性，以作為瀏覽器設計與網站規劃的依據。 本研究經由使用者迷途現象中，找出影響瀏覽輔助工具效能的因素，尤其針對不同網頁結構時，瞭解各自使用的特性與時機。研究中，主要針對瀏覽輔助工具類型中：「回到前頁」、「常用書籤」以及「導覽地圖」三種工具，分別就網站資訊架構中，「淺廣型」、「中庸型」以及「深窄型」之適用性，以實驗設計的方法，檢測其主客觀迷失的現象。其中，迷失評量的依據，乃建立在以軌跡記錄的量化迷失模式上，並輔以主觀心理尺度資料與開放性問卷進行分析探討。研究結果發現，「淺廣型」之網頁架構環境，若採用「導覽地圖」或是「常用書籤」工具，輔助效果較佳，而「中庸型」、「深窄型」兩者則以採用「導覽地圖」或是「回到前頁」為佳。「常用標籤」在三種不同架構環境中，輔助瀏覽之表現隨著架構趨向深窄形式時，而輔助的成效較弱。研究者認為其顯示績效不彰的原因，乃是由於工具屬性為不同所導致。 最後，基於研究結果，我們主張當設計師進行瀏覽輔助工具設計時，面對於不同架構的環境需求時，應要瞭解工具配置上的確因其特性不同，有其適用性的不同。網站規劃的設計師也可以就此作為依據，以減少迷途行為現象的發生，增進資訊瀏覽的效率，並可資為未來研究者與設計師的參考。

The advent of World Wide Web has increased the efficiency for people to search information with its strong nature of rich content and hyperlink character. However, in the immense information space, people often found themselves “lost in hyperspace.” Researchers indicated it is due to the user information overload; thus, in every navigational tool, there are functions designated to help users find their way in the cyberspace. However, even with the help of the navigational tools to surf in the cyberspace, the phenomenon of lostness in cyberspace is still in existence. We believe this is the occasion of the unique characteristic among these navigational tools having specific accommodation when user confront with different information structure. In this study, we tried to uncover the relation among navigational tools, information structure and users’ performance on way finding in the hypertext system. By analyzing the reasons behind the phenomenon of losing in cyberspace, we intend to find out the key factors influencing the performance of different navigational tools. The combinations of three navigational tools, i.e., back, bookmark and map, and three types of information structure, i.e. shallow-wide, medium and deep-narrow, are examined in the experiment. The measurement of lostness is based on the quantificational record of users’ browsing path, the perceived attitude information and questionnaire. The result shows the relation between navigational tools, information structure and user’s way finding performance do exist. As the experiment data shows that the performance is best when users use map or bookmark to assist their browsing in the shallow-wide type information structure. While in the medium and the deep-narrow structures, the map or back tools would provide much better assist. Finally, we suggest that designer should be aware that the navigational tools should be accommodated by the types of information structure in hypertext system.