Conducting remote, Internet-based experiments on Web design

This paper presents an Internet-based study of the effect of intra-article navigation affordances on Web browsing behavior. Navigation was assessed by randomly assigning participants to one of four experimental conditions: the existing intra-article navigation bar, one of two redesigned intra-article navigation bars, or an intra-article navigation bat-combined with a global navigation bar. Data about participants´ browsing behavior were logged by using our experimental design toolkit to instrument the Web site´s pages with PHP scripts (J. Barrick et al., 2004). Demographics, perceptions, and comprehension were measured through a post-browsing survey. The study is ongoing and results are presented at the conference. We also report on the further development of our toolkit that has made conducting Internet-based research possible.