Psychology of web design; attractive visual cues for web users in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The main goal of the study was to enhance the attractiveness of Sri Lankan web sites on the basis of Psychological aspects. It helps to bridge the gap between user and the web site through feedback given for web designers to create web sites, which cater the interests of web users in Sri Lanka through developing user satisfaction. The study was done using qualitative research methodology. The data was collected through a semi-structured interview, which was refined from a pilot study. Six participants were selected that included three males and three females, between the ages of 20 - 40. The sample was selected from the Faculty of Arts, especially from the Information Technology Center, University of Peradeniya. The current research investigated all the visual cues commonly used in web sites through psychological aspects. The results indicated 16 themes and some themes contained sub themes. The themes have revealed how to design and allocate visual cues on web sites. The first four themes covered overall aspect of web designing, those were; user friendly features, attractive features, features in visible area and methods of allocating information. The rest expressed visual cues separately, namely; the main menu, the search bar, the scroll bar, marquee tool/text, modelers and stars on web, hyperlinks, symbols, animations, images, text, colors and white space. This research can be extended further, by the analysis of gender differences in attractive visual cues or auditory cues in web sites and psychological effects on web sites for youth in Sri Lankan context.