Measurement of Task Performance Times and Ease of Use: Comparison of Various Menu Structures and Depth on the Web

Five kinds of product search HTML pages - a four-level hierarchy (3 times 3 × 3 times 3), a three-level hierarchy (9 times 3 × 3), a two-level hierarchy (27 times 3), a one-level hierarchy (81 times 1), and a frame structure (9times3×3) - were prepared. Two kinds of task, a simple task and a complex task, were prepared. For the most complex task, a total of 22 clicks were required to complete the task. Then the subjects were asked to search for products over the Internet. They were also asked to evaluate ease of use of the web pages. A total of 89 subjects accessed the experimental pages. The access log was later statistically analyzed. The results were very productive. In most advanced research up to now it has been shown that reducing the number of hierarchies and increasing the amount of information in one screen can reduce the task performance time. Our test results have also shown that this is what happens when a complex task is performed. However, a different conclusion is drawn when a simple task i...