Abstract
Two experiments examined the effects of graphical organizers on users' navigation of a 150-page hierarchical website of aquatic animals. In Experiment 1, users were given either a non-clickable map (map group) or no map (no-map group) and answered 30 questions by searching the website. The map group was more efficient (visited fewer pages) on the first 20 questions (learning phase) but the no-map group was marginally more efficient on the last 10 questions (test phase), and displayed more flexible search strategies. In Experiment 2, users were either given a simplified organizer locating the current page in the website (explicit group) or an alphabetized list of superordinate pages (implicit group). The task from Experiment 1 was repeated. No differences in efficiency were found, but the explicit group was faster than the implicit group in the test phase. The results depended on individual differences in spatial skills. These results suggest a tradeoff between organizers that are useful initially and those that promote structural learning.
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