Analysis of users’
website navigation can provide developers with solutions for improving the
information structure and design of the website. However, website structure does
not render real spatiality and cannot provide tangible navigation, yet similarities exist
in website navigation and the real environment. In website navigation, users click the
button that leads to the next page, and the webpage changes directly from page to page
without leaving a record of user’s experience. Hyperlinks cut off the continuity of
navigation memory and thus affect way-finding behavior. In conclusion, the differences
between web navigation and navigation in the real environment are: first, there’s no
sense of movement when browsing the internet. Second, there is no compass or
direction on the internet. Third, there is no referential point on the internet. Downs and
Stea (1973) submit that when users navigate, they are not simply carrying out a single
task or even just trying to determine the relative locations of themselves, the space, and
the target. Rather, they learn, through continual exploration, whether it is appropriate
to try a new route or adopt new strategies. They also discover how the outside
environment differs from the inner operations of their minds. Cognitive way-finding
processes are closely related to spatial knowledge. Kosslyn (1987) suggests two kinds
of knowledge representations: categorical information (or route spatial knowledge) and
coordinate representation (or survey spatial knowledge). In a virtual space interface,
route knowledge is incorporated with the characteristics of the information structure,
and the movements among information nodes are linear. Route knowledge is better
employed when there is simple page representation and fewer functions, with only a
small amount of information shown at one time. This decreases information overload.
However, a less complete information structure can be a disadvantage.