Efficient electronic navigation: A metaphorical question?

Differences in navigation performance have been found for variation in the metaphor used to structure information layout within websites. Our study extends this work by examining three metaphors to clarify further whether differences can be attributed to the metaphor’s structure being spatial (versus non-spatial) or because it has greater familiarity. Participants were assigned a website and completed a structurally identical navigation task based on a specific metaphor description. Effects of metaphor were found for total task time, disorientation, and a combined accuracy measure. The house metaphor (spatial/familiar) produced significantly faster task times and more accurately retained metal models than both the town (spatial/unfamiliar) and social (non-spatial/unfamiliar) metaphors. Cognitive style, spatial ability and confidence had mixed and limited influence on the findings. The results suggest that navigation in website environments is facilitated more by the degree of familiarly perceived in the structure of the metaphor, than the spatial or non-spatial nature of the metaphor. This has major implications for the design of hypertext material, especially where the ability to locate information and recall it accurately is important rather than speed per se.