Summary of Results from our Findings
A Comparison to Heidi Adkisson's 2002 Results
| MAIN CATEGORY | USABILTY FEATURES EXAMINED | 2002 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLOBAL NAVIGATION | Frequency of Global Navigation | ||||
| Percentage of sites with Global Navigation | 97% | 99% | 93% | 100% | |
| Location of Global Navigation: | |||||
| Top | 89% | 85% | 86% | 94% | |
| Left | 11% | 13% | 4% | 6% | |
| N/A | 0% | 0% | 7% | 0% | |
| Main Content Area | 0% | 2% | 3% | 0% | |
| Style for Global Navigation: | |||||
| Navigation Bar | 39% | 38% | 33% | 32% | |
| Navigation Tabs | 43% | 27% | 17% | 20% | |
| Plain List | 7% | 25% | 7% | 11% | |
| Pull Down Menu | 5% | 5% | 0% | 0% | |
| Pop-Out/Fly-away | 0% | 7% | 31% | 36% | |
| Navigation Buttons | 4% | 5% | 4% | 1% | |
| N/A | 0% | 0% | 8% | 0% | |
| Link Style: | |||||
| HTML text (not underlined) | n/a | 45% | 28% | 29% | |
| Graphic text | n/a | 44% | 49% | 60% | |
| HTML text (underlined) | n/a | 11% | 12% | 10% | |
| Graphic Text/HTML Text (underlined) | 0% | 0% | 1% | 0% | |
| Graphic Text/HTML Text (not underlined) | 0% | 0% | 3% | 1% | |
| N/A | 0% | 0% | 7% | 0% | |
| Link Rollover Behavior: | |||||
| None | n/a | 35% | 39% | 23% | |
| Change text color | n/a | 24% | 13% | 16% | |
| Change background color | n/a | 17% | 11% | 6% | |
| Add underlining | n/a | 12% | 7% | 8% | |
| Change graphic state | n/a | 12% | 21% | 31% | |
| Add Underline/Change Text Color | 0% | 0% | 4% | 4% | |
| Change Text Color/Change BG Color | 0% | 0% | 3% | 12% | |
| Inconsistent | 0% | 0% | 1% | 0% | |
| N/A | 0% | 0% | 1% | 0% | |
| GLOBAL "HOME" LINK | Presentation of Home Link: | ||||
| Logo linked to Home only | 19% | 46% | 49% | 64% | |
| Logo linked to Home plus Home link at top of page | 60% | 39% | 36% | 17% | |
| Logo linked to Home plus Home link in footer | 13% | 11% | 11% | 15% | |
| Logo linked to first-level product category | 8% | 3% | 0% | 3% | |
| No Logo | 0% | 0% | 4% | 0% | |
| Logo not linked | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | |
| Location of Global Home Link: | |||||
| Top Left | 100% | 94% | 97% | 99% | |
| Top Center | 0% | 3% | 0% | 0% | |
| Top Right | 0% | 3% | 3% | 1% | |
| BREADCRUMB NAVIGATION | Is it Used? | ||||
| Yes | 45% | 57% | 56% | 57% | |
| No | 55% | 43% | 44% | 43% | |
| Orientation: | |||||
| Horizontal | 95% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| Vertical | 5% | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Separator Style: | |||||
| Right Arrow | 65% | 80% | 77% | 77% | |
| Colon | 8% | 7% | 5% | 7% | |
| Slash | 4% | 5% | 5% | 7% | |
| Pipe | 9% | 2% | 7% | 5% | |
| Bullet | 9% | 2% | 0% | 0% | |
| Left Arrow | 9% | 2% | 2% | 0% | |
| Semi-colon | 9% | 2% | 2% | 0% | |
| Other(Dot) | 0% | 0% | 2% | 0% | |
| Other(Back Slash) | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| FACETED CLASSIFICATION | Is it Used? | ||||
| Yes | 69% | 79% | 52% | 51% | |
| No | 31% | 21% | 48% | 49% | |
| HTML LINK TREATMENT | Primary HTML Link Color: | ||||
| Blue | 50% | 35% | 45% | 24% | |
| Grey | 12% | 24% | 20% | 24% | |
| Black | 12% | 20% | 17% | 6% | |
| Green | 6% | 9% | 5% | 8% | |
| Red | 13% | 4% | 4% | 1% | |
| White | 0% | 4% | 0% | 1% | |
| Purple | 2% | 3% | 4% | 1% | |
| Brown | 5% | 1% | 0% | 4% | |
| Other | 0% | 0% | 1% | 3% | |
| Inconsistent | 0% | 0% | 3% | 28% | |
| Treatment of Text Links: | |||||
| underlined | 54% | 55% | 51% | 37% | |
| not-underlined | 34% | 44% | 45% | 46% | |
| other | 12% | 1% | 4% | 17% | |
| Rollover of Text Links: | |||||
| Change color | 15% | 49% | 29% | 21% | |
| None | 68% | 29% | 35% | 23% | |
| Add underline | 10% | 21% | 23% | 28% | |
| CBC | 4% | 1% | 0% | 1% | |
| Add Underline & Change Color | 0% | 0% | 7% | 6% | |
| Take away Underline | 0% | 0% | 1% | 0% | |
| Inconsistent | 0% | 0% | 1% | 21% | |
| PAGE WIDTH | Page width of main content area: | ||||
| 100% stretched | 0% | 7% | 8% | 11% | |
| 601-650 | 13% | 1% | 0% | 0% | |
| 651-700 | 7% | 1% | 1% | 1% | |
| 701-750 | 27% | 41% | 17% | 13% | |
| 751-800 | 47% | 36% | 48% | 38% | |
| 801-850 | 6% | 3% | 3% | 5% | |
| 851-900 | 0% | 1% | 5% | 8% | |
| 901-950 | 0% | 0% | 5% | 7% | |
| 951-1000 | 0% | 3% | 5% | 17% | |
| 1001+ | 0% | 7% | 5% | 0% | |
| SITE LAYOUT | Page Orientation: | ||||
| Fixed Width Left Justified | n/a | 50% | 40% | 33% | |
| Fixed width centered | n/a | 33% | 49% | 58% | |
| Variable Width/100% Stretched | n/a | 17% | 11% | 9% | |
| SOURCE CODE | Doctype: | ||||
| None | n/a | 53% | 43% | 38% | |
| HTML 4.0 Transitional | n/a | 33% | 39% | 31% | |
| XHTML 1.0 Transitional | n/a | 9% | 15% | 22% | |
| HTML 3.2 Final | n/a | 3% | 1% | 1% | |
| XHTML 1.0 Strict | n/a | 1% | 0% | 4% | |
| HTML 4.01 Strict | 0% | 0% | 1% | 2% | |
| XHTML 1.1 | 0% | 0% | 1% | 2% | |
| CSS or Tables for Layout? | |||||
| Both Tables and CSS | n/a | 76% | 71% | 32% | |
| CSS | n/a | 13% | 19% | 35% | |
| Tables | n/a | 11% | 9% | 32% | |
| Flash/Neither | 0% | 0% | 1% | 1% |