Web Page Design Research Articles

What information about donation after circulatory death is available on the Internet for potential donor families?

The purpose of this study is to determine what information about donation after circulatory death (DCD) is available on the Internet and to document the common statements for and against DCD. The search terms non-heart-beating donor, donation after cardiac death, DCD, deceased donor, organ donation, and organ harvesting were entered into the four most-accessed English-language Internet search engines. The top 10 webpages from each search (240 webpages) yielded 116 unique sites. Three reviewers reviewed each webpage and recorded statements for and against DCD as well as site type, tone, and mention of DCD. While 59 (50.9%) of the overall 116 sites included DCD information, only 10% of sites found with the term "organ donation" mentioned DCD at all. The sites that did include DCD were mostly (78%) of the type "medical journal" or "hospital or university webpage" and 89% of these had a positive or neutral tone. Nine positive and nine negative tropes were defined using the Grounded Theory Method. This study reveals the lack of information regarding DCD in organ donation webpages. Thoughtful responses to these statements should be considered in family discussions and in the design of future webpages.

Health Sciences Students' Self-Assessment of Information and Communication Technology Skills and Attitude Toward e-Learning.

BackgroundIn medical education, information and communication technology (ICT) knowledge and skills have become a necessity and an integral part of preparing tomorrow’s doctors to be sufficiently competent to use informatics resources effectively and efficiently for the best practice of medicine.ObjectiveThis research aimed to study the literacy of the preprofessional students in ICT before and after taking the basic informatics course at the Health Sciences Center at Kuwait University, to understand their potential and their attitudes toward using ICT, including e-learning.MethodsA validated questionnaire was used to collect data from 200 students in 2 stages: before and after the informatics course on the preprofessional program. In addition, the tutors’ observational assessments of the students’ achievements during the informatics course were obtained.ResultsThe response rate of students before the course was 85.5% (171/200) and after was 77% (154/200). Of 200 students, 85% were female, and 15% were male. This disproportional representation of genders was due to the fact that 85% of registered students were female. Approximately 59% (101/171) of the students assessed themselves before the course as computer literate; afterward, this increased to 70.1% (108/154). Students who were still computer illiterate (29.2%; 45/154) mostly used the excuse of a lack of time (60%; 27/45). In generic ICT skills, the highest levels were for word processing, email, and Web browsing, whereas the lowest levels were for spreadsheets and database. In specific ICT skills, most respondents were reported low levels for statistical package use and Web page design. The results found that there was a significant improvement between students’ general ICT skills before and after the course. The results showed that there were significant improvement between how frequently students were using Medline (P<.001), Google Scholar (P<.001), and Cochrane Library (P<.001) before and after the informatics course. Furthermore, most of the students who completed the course (72.8%; 110/151) chose the learning management system as the most useful e-learning tool. The results of the tutors’ assessments confirmed the obvious improvement in most of the students’ skills in using ICT.ConclusionsThe ICT knowledge and skills of the students before the course seemed insufficient, and the magnitude of the improvements that were acquired throughout the informatics course was obvious in most of the students’ performance. However, the findings reveal that more practice was required. The attitudes of most of the students toward the potential of e-learning were considered positive, although the potential of Web-based learning in medical training was not well known among the students.

Exploración del diseño y arquitectura web. Aplicación a páginas electrónicas del sector bancario desde la perspectiva del usuario

Rev.esc.adm.neg&#x0D; En los últimos años, el uso de la banca online ha venido aumentando considerablemente en Colombia, por lo cual el estudio de las páginas web de bancos, desde la perspectiva del usuario, se convierte en un tópico de especial interés en el ámbito del marketing digital. El objetivo de esta investigación consistió en explorar los atributos del diseño y arquitectura digital de sitios web de un conjunto de bancos, a fin de aportar información en gestión de marketing y comunicación digital. El diseño corresponde a un estudio exploratorio haciendo uso de la técnica análisis de codificación hermenéutica, mediante el software Atlas.Ti. Los resultados aportan evidencia con respecto a la influencia del tamaño de la letra, cantidad de texto, ilustraciones y la velocidad de la navegación sobre la respuesta de los usuarios al momento de hacer uso de los servicios digitales.

How well are health information websites displayed on mobile phones? Implications for the readability of health information

Issue addressed More than 87% of Australians own a mobile phone with Internet access and 82% of phone owners use their smartphones to search for health information, indicating that mobile phones may be a powerful tool for building health literacy. Yet, online health information has been found to be above the reading ability of the general population. As reading on a smaller screen may further complicate the readability of information, this study aimed to examine how health information is displayed on mobile phones and its implications for readability. Methods Using a cross-sectional design with convenience sampling, a sample of 270 mobile webpages with information on 12 common health conditions was generated for analysis, they were categorised based on design and position of information display. Results The results showed that 71.48% of webpages were mobile-friendly but only 15.93% were mobile-friendly webpages designed in a way to optimise readability, with a paging format and queried information displayed for immediate viewing. Conclusion With inadequate evidence and lack of consensus on how webpage design can best promote reading and comprehension, it is difficult to draw a conclusion on the effect of current mobile health information presentation on readability. So what? Building mobile-responsive websites should be a priority for health information providers and policy-makers. Research efforts are urgently required to identify how best to enhance readability of mobile health information and fully capture the capabilities of mobile phones as a useful device to increase health literacy.

Students' Perceptions of and Experiences With Educational Technology: A Survey.

BackgroundIt is generally assumed that incoming students in medical education programs will be better equipped for the “digital age” given their younger age and an educational upbringing in which technology was seemingly omnipresent. In particular, many assume that today's medical students are more likely to hold positive attitudes and increased comfortability with technology and possess greater information technology (IT) skills.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to compare responses of incoming veterinary medical students to a series of IT-related questions contained in a common questionnaire over the course of a 10-year period (2005-2015) to discern whether students’ attitudes have improved and uses and comfortability with technology have increased as anticipated.MethodsA survey measuring attitudes and preferences, computing experience, and technology ownership was administered each year for the past 10 years to incoming veterinary medical students at a large veterinary school in the United States. Students' responses to survey items were compared at 3 data points (2005, 2010, and 2015).ResultsToday's incoming veterinary medical students tend to indicate the same desire to improve skills using spreadsheets and web page design as incoming students from 10 years ago. It seems that despite technological advances and increased exposure to such applications and skills, there remains a challenge for students to “keep up” with the ever evolving technology. Moreover, although students continue to report they are very comfortable with using a computer (and related devices), many use their computers as typewriters or word processors, as opposed to a means for performing more advanced computing functions.ConclusionsIn general, today's medical students are not expert computer users as many assume. Despite an upbringing in a digitized world, many students still lack many basic computing skills.

Accessibility analysis of websites of educational institutions

Earlier preparing accessible websites was not as important as it is today. Due to the increase in the accessibility issues and compliance of accessibility norms, there is an increasing research on the accessibility. In this paper we have tried to analyze the accessibility of the top educational institutions of different countries. Our main contributions of this paper are (1) Studying the present scenario of web accessibility compliance in the countries across the globe, with special focus on India. (2) Analyzing selected websites of top universities and educational institutions of different countries. (3) Based on the analysis, results have been generated to indicate the web accessibility of the websites. (4) Suggestions on improvement of the web page design of the educational institutions have been given thereafter.

Using telemedicine in the care of newborn infants after discharge from a neonatal intensive care unit reduced the need of hospital visits.

AimThis study examined the use of telemedicine as a means to follow up infants discharged from a Swedish neonatal intensive care unit to home health care.MethodsFamilies were randomised to either a control group receiving standard home health care (n = 42 families) or a telemedicine group receiving home health care with telemedicine support (n = 47 families) after discharge from the hospital. Both groups had follow‐up hospital appointments with the neonatal nurse. In the telemedicine group, appointments were supplemented by the use of a specially designed web page and video calls.ResultsThe use of the web page and video calls decreased the number of emergency visits to the hospital (p = 0.047). In the telemedicine group, 26% of the families felt they had more scheduled appointments than necessary, whereas only 6% of the families in the control group thought so (p = 0.037). The parents were highly satisfied with the use of telemedicine. Although the nurses were favourable to using telemedicine, the rigid organisation of the home healthcare programme and the nurses’ schedules and work routines prevented its optimal use.ConclusionThe use of telemedicine decreased the need of hospital visits. Organisational adaptations would be necessary to make the best use of telemedicine.

Impact of Advertisements on Webpage Design and User Engagement – A Review from HCI Perspective

Impact of Advertisements on Webpage Design and User Engagement – A Review from HCI Perspective

A Study on Digital Media Technology Courses Teaching Based on Flipped Classroom

This essay, beginning with the problems existed in digital media technology course, introduces the flipped classroom, and then establishes the digital media technology course teaching mode based on this theory. And finally, an empirical research of flipped classroom teaching based on “web page design and production” is conducted. And according to the study, flipped classroom is appropriate for digital media technology course, because it helps inspire students’ enthusiasm and initiative, train their practice ability in computer media technology. The flipped classroom provides a new method for traditional teaching reform.

Statistical Models for Web Pages Usability

The usability of an interface is a fundamental issue to elucidate. Many researchers argued that many usability results and recommendations lack empirical and experimental data. In this research, the usability of the web pages is evaluated using several carefully selected statistical models. Universities web pages are chosen as subjects for this work for ease of comparison and ease of collecting data. A series of experiments has been conducted to investigate into the usability and design of the universities web pages. Prototype web pages have been developed according to the structured methodologies of web pages design and usability. Universities web pages were evaluated together with the prototype web pages using a questionnaire which was designed according to the Human Computer Interactions (HCI) heuristics. Nine (users) respondents’ variables and 14 web pages variables (items) were studied. Stringent statistical analysis was adopted to extract the required information to form the data acquired, and augmented interpretation of the statistical results was followed. The results showed that the analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure showed there were significant differences among the universities web pages regarding most of the 23 items studied. Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) showed that the prototype usability performed significantly better regarding most of the items. The correlation analysis showed significant positive and negative correlations between many items. The regression analysis revealed that the most significant factors (items) that contributed to the best model of the universities web pages design and usability were: multimedia in the web pages, the web pages icons (alone) organisation and design, and graphics attractiveness. The results showed some of the limitations of some heuristics used in conventional interface systems design and proposed some additional heuristics in web pages design and usability.

Appraisals of Salient Visual Elements in Web Page Design

Visual elements in user interfaces elicit emotions in users and are, therefore, essential to users interacting with different software. Although there is research on the relationship between emotional experience and visual user interface design, the focus has been on the overall visual impression and not on visual elements. Additionally, often in a software development process, programming and general usability guidelines are considered as the most important parts of the process. Therefore, knowledge of programmers’ appraisals of visual elements can be utilized to understand the web page designs we interact with. In this study, appraisal theory of emotion is utilized to elaborate the relationship of emotional experience and visual elements from programmers’ perspective. Participants (N=50) used 3E-templates to express their visual and emotional experiences of web page designs. Content analysis of textual data illustrates how emotional experiences are elicited by salient visual elements. Eight hierarchical visual element categories were found and connected to various emotions, such as frustration, boredom, and calmness, via relational emotion themes. The emotional emphasis was on centered, symmetrical, and balanced composition, which was experienced as pleasant and calming. The results benefit user-centered visual interface design and researchers of visual aesthetics in human-computer interaction.

A Framework for Improving Web 2.0 Interaction Design

Interaction design of websites has been changed during last decade, yet principles of interaction design and frameworks seem not to be updated based on the new technology and findings. Moreover most of the web developers are just trying to copy other famous companies’ works, because they do not have any idea what standards they have to follow, and this is not because there is not any frameworks and standards but it is because these frameworks do not meet new technology requirements. Although most of the research on interaction design did not consider elements such as Ajax pages and different type of device’s screen size such as tablets and phones (and they influence on web page design), in this research author has reviewed different principles of interaction design in different studies and based on these studies and recent changes in technology, suggested a new framework. Furthermore two round study was performed on a social network website, one before implementing this framework and the other one after implementing it. Additionally findings were evaluated to show that by implementing this framework in web design not only developers, but users will benefit from it.

An Investigation into News Webpage interface Design in Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Recently the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has experienced an explosion in exposure to new technologies in different sectors especially in media and telecommunication. Internet is one of those technologies that have opened a way for information proliferation amongst a previously censored region.&#x0D; Developing web sites to deliver news and other information is a relatively new phenomenon in Kurdistan; this means that the design and development of web pages may lack the quality standard required. In this paper the quality of webpage interface design and usability in the field of news journalism in the KRI is examined against a set of web interface design and usability criterion. For the purpose of data collection 9 available popular news websites are chosen and 900 questionnaires are sent to 100 random users. The result is analyzed and we have found that the majority of users are satisfied with the interface design and usability of the news WebPages, however the result points out some weakness that can be improved. The outcome of this research can be used to enhance website design and usability in the field of journalism in the KRI.

Robust Multiarmed Bandit Problems

The multiarmed bandit problem is a popular framework for studying the exploration versus exploitation trade-off. Recent applications include dynamic assortment design, Internet advertising, dynamic pricing, and the control of queues. The standard mathematical formulation for a bandit problem makes the strong assumption that the decision maker has a full characterization of the joint distribution of the rewards, and that “arms” under this distribution are independent. These assumptions are not satisfied in many applications, and the out-of-sample performance of policies that optimize a misspecified model can be poor. Motivated by these concerns, we formulate a robust bandit problem in which a decision maker accounts for distrust in the nominal model by solving a worst-case problem against an adversary (“nature”) who has the ability to alter the underlying reward distribution and does so to minimize the decision maker’s expected total profit. Structural properties of the optimal worst-case policy are characterized by using the robust Bellman (dynamic programming) equation, and arms are shown to be no longer independent under nature’s worst-case response. One implication of this is that index policies are not optimal for the robust problem, and we propose, as an alternative, a robust version of the Gittins index. Performance bounds for the robust Gittins index are derived by using structural properties of the value function together with ideas from stochastic dynamic programming duality. We also investigate the performance of the robust Gittins index policy when applied to a Bayesian webpage design problem. In the presence of model misspecification, numerical experiments show that the robust Gittins index policy not only outperforms the classical Gittins index policy, but also substantially reduces the variability in the out-of-sample performance.This paper was accepted by Dimitris Bertsimas, optimization.

THE EFFECTS OF SEX, TOPOLOGICAL STRUCTURE, AND TASK TYPE ON HYPERTEXT NAVIGATIONAL PERFORMANCE.

Currently, almost all online materials use hyperlinks to provide users access to background, supplemental, or alternative information presented in context, greatly increasing the potential integration of information. However, a major problem is that people do not navigate hyperlinks effectively when the links become more topologically complex. Thus, identification of the variables that lead to navigational errors is necessary for the effective design of hyperlinks. Ninety-one participants (45 women, 46 men) were recruited for this experiment. All were college students and ranged in age from 19 to 23 yr. (M = 20.87, SD = 1.02). Navigational performance was examined in relation to sex, topological structure, and task type. A network topology with single-node task was superior to one with a linear topology under a single-node task condition, but equal to one with a linear topology under a multi-node task condition. Men navigated the linear topology with multi-node task and a network topology with a single-node task significantly faster than women, whereas no significant differences were observed under the other conditions. Sex interacted with topological structure and task type. This study extended the research in this domain by demonstrating an interactive effect among sex, topological structure, and task type on the navigational performance of users and can contribute to research regarding web page design.

Project-based pedagogy for the facilitation of webpage design

Real issues of web design and development include many problem-solving tasks. There are, however, some inadequacies associated with the implementation of appropriate pedagogy for organised and structured instruction that supports the rational problem-solving paradigm. The purpose of this article is to report on a study for the design and implementation of an Instructional Web Design Programme (IWDP) with methodology-specific guidelines in an information systems design context. A second purpose is to discuss the pedagogy developed within the IWDP and its effects on promoting technological problem solving of learners in the project-based classroom. A qualitative, action-research approach was the basis for this study. The sample consisted of 17 learners at an institution of higher education. The researchers used a focus group interview, journals and essays to observe learners’ behaviour, to analyse their project designs and to assess their opinions and experiences with regard to the IWDP. An organised and structured instructional environment within the IWDP helped the teacher to promote technological problem solving. The teacher and learners acknowledged the components of the programme (for example, assessment criteria, range statements, performance indicators, pre-defined learner tasks and activities) in the project-based classroom. Practical and cognitive apprenticeship and experiential and situated learning were used to accommodate the problem-solving needs of learners. Learners indicated a need for a variety of tools and expert guidance in a peer-based collaborative learning environment.

Using Google Maps Web-application to Create Virtual Plant Maps for Use as an Online Study Tool in Plant Identification Courses

Virtual plant maps were developed using a web-application for plant identification courses with the goal of providing an additional study resource to students. Each map plots the plants covered for the given weekly plant list, providing photographs of specimens, correct nomenclature, along with additional identification and cultural information. The virtual plant maps provide students an opportunity to review and revisit plants covered in lecture and laboratory sections on their own and at their convenience. An additional advantage of the virtual plant maps is that they can be easily created using a free web-application via any Internet browser, without the need for rigorous understanding of software and webpage design.

What’s in a click? A social semiotic framework for the multimodal analysis of website interactivity

This article presents a social semiotic framework for the multimodal analysis of website interactivity. Distinguishing it from interaction, it defines interactivity as the affordance of a text of being acted (up)on, thus including hypertextuality. The author introduces the notion of ‘interactive sites/signs’ as the loci of interactivity in digital texts; these have a two-fold nature and a two-dimensional functioning. In their two-fold nature, they are both places enabling actions producing effects and forms endowed with meanings. Notwithstanding the non-direct correspondence between forms, actions and effects (which makes any specific association between the three significant within a webpage design), and in spite of their many possible forms (encompassing still and dynamic images, shapes and writing), a small range of actions can activate them (click/click+type/hover), producing a restricted set of textual effects (access/provide/transfer text). In their two-dimensional functioning, interactive sites/signs function both syntagmatically, on the page where they are displayed, in their relation with other co-occurring elements, and paradigmatically, opening to optional text realizations, hence in their relation with these. The framework adapts Halliday’s three metafunctions to the analysis of the two-fold nature and two-dimensional functioning of interactive sites/signs. It provides a fine-grained account of the interactive meaning potentials of digital texts, distinguishing between a text’s aesthetics of interactivity – as visually communicated before it is activated, performed and experienced – and its functionality, in the configuration of interactive possibilities offered by a page. Designed to complement the extant practices of text analysis of webpages, the framework can be used comparatively, as exemplified in its application to the analysis of two blog pages, and can provide a more refined assessment of the interactive meaning potential of a webpage than traditional methodologies such as content analysis.

E -Recruitment Transforming the Dimensions of Online Job Seeking: A case of Pakistan

This research study aims to investigate the influence of adoption of e-recruitment method by job seekers in karachi, Pakistan. It also analyzes the relationship between e-recruitment and their adoption behavior. A convenient sample of 250 job seekers from different universities students of Karachi was taken. After validating the instrument, one sample t-test was performed to test the relationship of selected variables i.e. cost saving, time saving, extensive search and unlimited excess with the behavior of job seekers in adopting a e-recruitment method. Using SPSS 17.0 Statistical evidence at 0.05 level of significance proved that cost saving, time saving, extensive search and unlimited excess are significantly correlated with a e-recruitment adoption. The findings are helpful for academicians, organizations and other institutions to design and market new web pages to attract more and more job seekers.

Measuring the Accessibility of the U.S. State Government Web Sites

Web accessibility has become an important issue since the dramatic rise in the use of the Web. Web accessibility deals with overcoming barriers users with disabilities face when trying to access information on Web sites. The U.S. has passed laws relating to Web accessibility to improve the usability of the Internet for disabled users. Technical advancements have improved assistive tools such as page readers for users with disabilities, but accessibility requires more than assistive tools. Web page design causes many accessibility problems. This study examines the accessibility of the home pages of the official government Web sites of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, based on the assumption that government Web sites should be an example for other organizations to follow regarding Web accessibility. However, nearly a third of the home pages tested did not meet the most fundamental requirements for Web accessibility. Fixes for many of these accessibility problems require rather minor adjustments to underlying page code.