Web Surfers Hunt Like Animals

from the thousands-of-years-of-evolution dept

How do people search for information on the web? Apparently, just like animals do. People are now applying "foraging" theories to the internet, and they've found that people don't like to think. The article goes off on a bit of a Jakob Nielsen tangent (has their ever been a "web usability" article that doesn't mention Jakob?). But, basically, the point is that web surfers follow a "scent" to find information, and if the scent is too weak they won't get there, or if there are too many options (competing scents?) they won't be able to find it either - because it will require too much thought. Some researchers are apparently trying to create a program (called Bloodhound) that will tell you how usable your web site is based on these theories.

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