Optimizing the design of menu pages for information retrieval?

Abstract

A major function performed on computer systems today is the retrieval of information. Videotex is such a system, providing access to large databases containing information of interest to the general public. While many computer systems provide a menu-page index (also known as a hierarchical tree index) for retrieving information, until recently there has been little empirical evidence available either on how efficient such indexes are when used by inexperienced, untrained users or on how to improve such indexes. A series of six experiments are presented which address these issues in the context of a videotex system with databases containing 900-1500 items of information. In five of the experiments, naive users were required to search for information using menu-page indexes. In the remaining experiment, videotex experts judged a number of menu pages on the basis of subjective preference. The results of these experiments indicate that menu-page indexes can be problematic for naive users. Among the general conclusions were (a) menu indexes should be tested empirically for ease of use prior to presentation to the general public, (b) menus can be significantly improved in terms of ease of use through detection and correction of design faults, (c) menus can be improved by the addition of descriptors, and (d) untrained videotex users are very consistent in their perceptions of good and poor index structures whereas there appears to be no agreement at all among experts. The present results are germane to the use of menu indexes on computer systems in general.