MicrosoftWindows XP Control Panel, showing how users can easily set regional and
language options.
more dramatic, because novices and first-time users often are unable to complete
the tasks.
Web designers have emphasized information-architecture models with navigation
as the key to user success. Web users can be considered as foraging for information,
and therefore the effectiveness of the information scent of links is the issue
(Pirolli, 2003). A high-quality link, relative to a specifc task, gives users a good
scent (or indication) of what is at the destination. For example, if users are trying
to find an executable demonstration of a software package, then a link with the
text "download demo" has a good scent. The challenge to designers is to understand
user tasks well enough to design a large web site such that users will be able
to find their way successfully from a home page to the right destination, even if it
is three or four clicks away. Information-foraging theory attempts to predict user
success rates given a set of tasks and a web site, so as to guide refinements.