Influences of Color Salience and Location of Website Links on User Performance and Affective Experience with a Mobile Web Directory

Abstract

ABSTRACT We investigated the impact of color salience and location of a website link on users’ performance, affective experiences and approach-avoidance tendencies with 10 mock mobile Web directories. Task completion times were recorded by a computer program, and users’ affective experiences and approach-avoidance responses were reported in questionnaires. Results implied that visual attention in the display area on a mobile Web directory is directed by a combination of bottom-up and top-down processes, which is different from the primarily top-down process implicated in a similar study of PC Web directories. A salient color of the website link helped attract users’ attention and increase users’ sense of control over the process. Also, users are likely to search webpages from top left to bottom right. Our findings suggest that a target website link placed in the top left corner or displayed in a distinct color in the center area not only attracts users’ attention but also results in a more highly rated affective experience. Color of the target website link can be changed to increase users’ sense of control of a Web directory and approach behaviors.