Using Visualization Methods for Improving Web Navigation

Using either a search engine or website navigation can pose difficulties for web users in certain situations. Therefore, creating a useful visualization of the website structure can aid web users in navigating through a website. By employing visualization techniques, the website structure can be presented as regions that provide clarity on all pages, links, and labels. To address these challenges, our goal is to identify the top three existing visualization layouts that improve website navigation. To achieve this, we aim to evaluate different types of existing visualization layouts by applying the region mechanism to visualize website structures. Initially, we designed a region mechanism that ensures scalability and ease of navigation and understanding for website structures. Subsequently, we conducted a technical evaluation to assess the performance of 12 existing visualization layouts on a website structure. During the evaluation, we generated 12 layouts for each webpage in the University of London (UoL) website. We then calculated three metrics for each layout: average aspect ratio, visualization area, and label overlapping. Finally, based on the results obtained, we identified the three most suitable visualization layouts for visualizing a website structure. These selections were made based on low aspect ratio and stability, effective control of the visualization area, and support for readability. Overall, this research focuses on improving website navigation by evaluating existing visualization layouts and selecting the most suitable ones. The chosen layouts are determined based on their ability to maintain low aspect ratio, ensure stability, control visualization area, and support readability.