Abstract
Literature points out the importance of indicating when a link opens a different website in a new window, since this is the default behavior that users expect, but this problem has not been specifically studied in mobile devices yet. This paper explains a study that was carried out with 20 different mobile devices and 19 users. We compared the usability of opening links in the same window or in a new one, informing or not informing the user about the target, as well as the convenience of using icons or text to inform about the target of a link. Results show that 95% of the devices used for the experiment had browser multi-window support, and we conclude that mobile users prefer to be previously informed when a link opens in a new window, and that the preferred method for informing them is using an icon instead of a text.
Paper Type
Event
Analyzing the Importance of Marking Links to Special Targets in Mobile Web
Literature points out the importance of indicating when a link opens a different website in a new window, since this is the default behavior that users expect, but this problem has not been specifically studied in mobile devices yet. This paper explains a study that was carried out with 20 different mobile devices and 19 users. We compared the usability of opening links in the same window or in a new one, informing or not informing the user about the target, as well as the convenience of using icons or text to inform about the target of a link. Results show that 95% of the devices used for the experiment had browser multi-window support, and we conclude that mobile users prefer to be previously informed when a link opens in a new window, and that the preferred method for informing them is using an icon instead of a text.
Recommended Citation
Garcia-Lopez, E., Manresa-Yee, C., Garcia-Cabot, A., & De-Marcos, L. (2014). Analyzing the Importance of Marking Links to Special Targets in Mobile Web. In V. Strahonja, N. Vrček., D. Plantak Vukovac, C. Barry, M. Lang, H. Linger, & C. Schneider (Eds.), Information Systems Development: Transforming Organisations and Society through Information Systems (ISD2014 Proceedings). Varaždin, Croatia: Faculty of Organization and Informatics. ISBN: 978-953-6071-43-2. http://aisel.aisnet.org/isd2014/proceedings/MobileTechnologies/2.