[Sigia-l] comparison research and examples of such tools

[Brett-Luxaco]

I agree there may not be information on comparisons, but I know when I am
comparing items, I would like to see everything and allow me to choose what
I want to focus on as I scroll the list. There maybe ways to present, like a
selection list of all the attributes, allowing the user to be able to choose
exactly what to display, or the option to display all.

I wouldn't think, no matter who you are, you should try to determin what a
user wants to see or not, what is important to me, may not be important to
you.

Brett
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Karl Groves" <kgroves at nasafcu.com>
To: <lisa at dynamicdiagrams.com>; <sigia-l at asis.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2004 11:13 AM
Subject: RE: [Sigia-l] comparison research and examples of such tools


> I can't recall seeing any research on the number of items to compare.
> What I have seen are recommendations about the quality of the comparison.
> NNGroup's "E-Commerce User Experience" has a section on search results and
product comparison.
> pg. 147 - "Provide a way to compare the details of similar items", goes on
to mention that one-to-one comparisons are useless if the details compared
aren't relevant or significant.
> pg 148 - "Let customers choose the products to be compared", and uses an
example of Sears.com which first lists all items returned via search and
then allows the user to compare the results that are displayed.
> Additionally, it makes mention of the fact that like items should be
compared via like criteria.
>
> I think available screen real estate would be more of a limiting factor to
the number of products that can be compared, than information overload...
>
> -Karl
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: sigia-l-admin at asis.org
> > [mailto:sigia-l-admin at asis.org]On Behalf Of
> > Lisa Agustin
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2004 11:42 AM
> > To: sigia-l at asis.org
> > Subject: [Sigia-l] comparison research and examples of such tools
> >
> >
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > Does anyone know of any existing usability research in the area of
> > side-by-side product comparisons (online or otherwise)?  For
> > example, has
> > there been any research done in terms of the maximum number
> > of items that
> > can be compared side by side before the user becomes
> > overwhelmed with the
> > available options?  Also, are there any examples of online
> > comparison tools
> > that you think work particularly well? Thanks in advance--
> >
> > Lisa
> > ========================
> > Lisa Agustin
> > Sr. Information Architect
> > Dynamic Diagrams
> > 146 Clifford St.
> > Providence, RI  02903
> >
> > ph. 401.223.1233 x105
> > fax 401.223.1234
> > e.  lisa at dynamicdiagrams.com
> > http://www.dynamicdiagrams.com
> >
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