skip to main content
10.1145/1240624.1240687acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PageschiConference Proceedingsconference-collections
Article

Investigating attractiveness in web user interfaces

Published:29 April 2007Publication History

ABSTRACT

A theoretical framework for assessing the attractiveness of websites based on Adaptive Decision Making theory is introduced. The framework was developed into a questionnaire and used to evaluate three websites which shared the same brand and topic but differed in aesthetic design. The DSchool site was favoured overall and was best for aesthetics and usability. The subjective ratings of the sites were in conflict with the subject-reported comments on usability problems. Subjects were given two scenarios for their preference. They changed their preference from the DSchool to the HCI Group's site for the more serious (PhD study) scenario; however, design background students remained loyal to the DSchool. The implications of framing and halo effects on users' judgement of aesthetics are discussed.

References

  1. Blom, J., and Monk, A. 2003. Theory of personalization of appearance: Why users personalize their pcs and mobile phones. Human-Computer Interaction. 18. 3, 193--228. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  2. Djajadiningrat, J. P., Overbeeke, C. J., and Wensveen, S. A. G., 2000. Augmenting fun and beauty: a pamphlet. In Proceedings Designing Augmented Reality Environments, DARE 2000 (Elsinore, Denmark). 131--134. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  3. DeAngeli, A., Sutcliffe, A., and Hartmann, J., Interaction, usability and aesthetics: what influences users' preferences?, Proc. DIS 2006, ACM Press (2006), 271--280. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  4. Dourish, P. 2004. Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  5. Green, W. S., and Jordan, P. W. 2001. Pleasure with Products: Beyond Usability. Taylor & Francis, London.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  6. Hallnäs, L., and Redström, J. 2002. From use to presence: On the expression of aesthetics of everyday computational things. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction. 9. 2, 106--124. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  7. Hassenzahl, M. 2004. The interplay of beauty, goodness and usability in interactive products. Human-Computer Interaction. 19. 4, 319--349. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  8. Hassenzahl, M., Platz, A., Burmester, M., and Lehner, K., 2000. Hedonic and ergonomic quality aspects determine a software's appeal. In CHI 2000 Conference Proceedings Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (The Hague) T. Turner, G. Szwillus, M. Czerwinski and F. Paterno (Eds), ACM Press, New York, 201--208. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  9. ISO. 1997. ISO 9241: Ergonomic Requirements for Office Systems with Visual Display Terminals (VDTs). International Standards Organisation.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  10. Ivory, M., and Hearst, M. 2001. The state of the art in automated usability evaluation of user interfaces. ACM Computing Surveys. 33. 4, 173--197. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  11. Kim, J., Lee, J., and Choi, D. 2003. Designing emotionally evocative home pages: An empirical study of the quantative relations between design factors and rmotional dimensions. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. 59. 6, 899--940. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  12. Lavie, T., and Tractinsky, N. 2004. Assessing dimensions of perceived visual aesthetics of websites. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. 60. 3, 269--298. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  13. Lindegaard, G., and Dudek, C. 2003. What is this evasive beast we call user satisfaction? Interacting with Computers. 15. 3, 429--452.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  14. Lynch, P. J., and Horton, S. 2001. Web Style Guidelines (2nd ed.). Yale University Press, New Haven CT.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  15. McCarthy, J., and Wright, P. 2005. Technology As Experience. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  16. Merrilees, B. and Fry, M.-L. 2002. Corporate branding: A framework for e-retailers. Corporate Reputation Review, 5, 213--225.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  17. Mullet, K., and Sano, D. 1995. Designing Visual Interfaces: Communication Oriented Techniques. SunSoft Press, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  18. Nielsen, J. 2000. Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. New Riders, New York. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  19. Nielsen, J., and Molich, R. 1990. Heuristic evaluation of user interfaces. SIGCHI Bulletin. April: special issue, 249--256.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  20. Norman, D. A. 2004. Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. Basic Books, New York.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  21. Park, S., Choi, D., and Kim, J. 2004. Critical factors for the aesthetic fidelity of web pages: Empirical studies with professional web designers and users. Interacting with Computers. 16. 2, 351--376.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  22. Payne, J. W., Bettman, J. R., and Johnson, E. J. 1993. The Adaptive Decision Maker. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  23. Petersen, M. G., Iversen, O. S., Krogh, P. G., and Ludvigsen, M., 2004. Aesthetic interaction: a pragmatist's aesthetics of interactive systems. In Proceedings 2004 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques (Cambridge MA). Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  24. Shusterman, R. 1992. Pragmatist Aesthetics, Living Beauty, Rethinking Art. Blackwell, Oxford.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  25. Spool, J. M., Scanlon, T., Snyder, C., Schroeder, W., and DeAngelo, T. 1999. Website Usability: A Designer's Guide. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  26. Sutcliffe, A. G., 2002. Heuristic evaluation of website attractiveness and usability. In Proceedings 8th Workshop on Design, Specification and Verification of Interactive Systems (Glasgow), C. W. Johnson, Ed. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 188--199. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  27. Sutcliffe, A. G., and De Angeli, A., 2005. Assessing interaction styles in web user interfaces. In Proceedings Human Computer Interaction -- Interact 2005 (Rome) M. F. Costabile, F. Paterno (Eds). Springer Verlag, Berlin, 405--417. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  28. Tractinsky, N., 1997. Aesthetics and apparent usability: empirically assessing cultural and methodological issues. In Human Factors in Computing Systems CHI 97 Conference Proceedings (Atlanta GA), Pemberton S. (Ed.) ACM Press, New York, 115--122. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  29. Tractinsky, N., Shoval-Katz, A., and Ikar, D. 2000. What is beautiful is usable. Interacting with Computers. 13. 2, 127--145.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  30. Tractinsky, N., and Zmiri, D., 2006. Exploring Attributes of Skins as Potential Antecedents of Emotion in HCI. In Aesthetic Computing, Fishwick, P. (Ed), MIT Press Cambridge, MA, 405--421.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

Index Terms

  1. Investigating attractiveness in web user interfaces

      Recommendations

      Comments

      Login options

      Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

      Sign in
      • Published in

        cover image ACM Conferences
        CHI '07: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
        April 2007
        1654 pages
        ISBN:9781595935939
        DOI:10.1145/1240624

        Copyright © 2007 ACM

        Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

        Publisher

        Association for Computing Machinery

        New York, NY, United States

        Publication History

        • Published: 29 April 2007

        Permissions

        Request permissions about this article.

        Request Permissions

        Check for updates

        Qualifiers

        • Article

        Acceptance Rates

        CHI '07 Paper Acceptance Rate182of840submissions,22%Overall Acceptance Rate6,199of26,314submissions,24%

        Upcoming Conference

        CHI '24
        CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
        May 11 - 16, 2024
        Honolulu , HI , USA

      PDF Format

      View or Download as a PDF file.

      PDF

      eReader

      View online with eReader.

      eReader