To link or not to link: an empirical comparison of hypertext linking strategies

ABSTRACT

Little is known about Hypertext writing style. This study examines the effects of link quantity and quality on usability. Our chosen domain is technical documentation which has a very regular writing style and organization. We compare two Hypertext Networks: one network has intuitively created links and the other is an algorithmic enhancement of it. The enhanced network has the same number of destination links, but more total link-anchors. Twelve subjects (six for each system) were asked to answer a set of eleven questions by navigating through the networks. We were interested in investigating three issues: efficiency (how many nodes need to be visited), speed (how much time is required) and accuracy (what is the error rate). Results showed that the lightly linked network required users to visit significantly more nodes to answer a question than the heavily linked equivalent. Heavy linking enabled users to find the answers to questions more quickly, but not significantly so. There was little difference in the error rate.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.7 DOCUMENT AND TEXT PROCESSING
      I.7.2 Document Preparation
          Subjects: Hypertext/hypermedia

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.1 Multimedia Information Systems
          Subjects: Hypertext navigation and maps**

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design, Performance, Theory