| Summary: | 碩士 === 銘傳大學 === 資訊管理學系碩士班 === 103 === As the Web becomes a major source of information, it is more important than ever to make it easier for users to find and understand information on a website. The concept of information shape suggests that both elements of information, namely spatial placement and semantic intent, contribute to users’ mental representation of information. When applied to a website, the spatial placement is shown by the layout and design of a webpage, while the semantic intent is conveyed through information architecture, genre/type of a website, and other things. In this study, layout and genre/type of a website are chosen to manifest the two elements. With various research methods, including survey, card sorting, interview and experiment, this study explores the meaning and impact of web information shape to users. Issues investigated includes: frequent matching patterns between spatial and semantic elements; common web information shapes in Taiwan; factors affecting decisions on the two elements during design; the impact of information shape on usability, web credibility and visual attention. The results indicate that: 1. Some types of websites have regular spatial layouts; 2. Spatial layout and website type jointly and interactively affect users’ judgment regarding information shape; 3. Homepage layout design is influenced by the type of website, business model and trend; 4. In terms of usability and web credibility, there is little difference resulted from dissimilar information shape, but information shapes do impact different visual attention. The main contribution of this study is to introduce the concept of shape to the Web, and to inquire into the patterns of layout and type of a website, along with the impact of information shape on users. The results are helpful to the planning and design of websites with the idea of information shape.
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