Influence of spatial ability in navigation: using look-ahead breadcrumbs on The Web

: Spatial implications of the commonly used `navigation' metaphor have lead many researchers to investigate the relation between individual differences and navigation. This study presents an exploratory survey on the influence of spatial ability, the most incisive aspect of individual difference for navigation, when people try to accomplish their goal in the information space. There are still different opinions about the potential of visual mediators for people with low spatial ability that help in refraining from the state of being disoriented or lost in the huge information content. The findings motivated us to design a research framework focusing a special visual look-ahead breadcrumb tool. Breadcrumbs are a type of navigational aid that help users from being lost in large websites by providing information about their location in the site hierarchy. The framework is presented after the preliminary discussion. The results from the experiment report that spatial ability influence...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2006
• Where: IJWBC
• Authors: Ishtiaq Ahmed, James Blustein
• Keywords: IJWBC 2006, Individual Difference, Spatial Ability, Visual Look-ahead Breadcrumbs