[Sigia-l] Re: Research on Reading Online

[Madhu Menon]

At 07:49 PM 07-08-02, Caryn Zange Josephson wrote:

>In particular:
>When people are browsing web sites, they tend to scan information, and
>don't really read much text.

I consider this diktat to be too generalised and only applicable to 
specific situations. That doesn't stop it from being repeated ad nauseam, 
however.


>However, I need to know if there is any research about whether people read
>supporting text on interior content pages when the information is of
>extreme interest to them.

Of course they do. The Wall Street Journal sells subscriptions 
successfully, doesn't it? People read news on CNN and BBC, don't they?


>I'm working on an information web site that deals with healthcare issues.
>We did a usability test with an early prototype, where we gave users some
>pre-canned health situations and asked them to find the information we're
>presenting on our site.

I don't understand this at all. Why are *you* setting the context of the 
usability test? What about what your *users* want from the Web site? Why 
don't you let *them* set the context instead? That's a true test. If you 
ask them to search for ProductX, you're not doing it the right way. Who 
knows if your users even *want* to read about ProductX? Also, the path 
taken by someone unfamiliar with ProductX is likely to be different from 
someone who knows exactly what it is, and hence is more likely to know, 
say, what category it falls under.

Do your tests right. Let users do their own thing. You just watch quietly. 
See where they go when the site is totally new to them.

Regards,

Madhu

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Madhu Menon
User Experience Consultant
e-mail: webguru at vsnl.net