Effective Visual Cues for Wal

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate my current work in the area of discovering what constitutes an effective visual cue in web screen design. The screen designer should provide for user orientation and ease of navigation within the network of hyper-linked information which constitutes the web-based computer assisted learning environment. Investigations into different visual cues in interface design, include an analysis of the benefits and shortfalls of the existing web navigation methods. These navigation methods include the provision of hyper-links embedded within the content text, indexed lists, and visual maps of varying complexity. Accepted CAL interface design principles include the use of consistency, simplicity and positioning to enhance communication with the user, but how well do existing guidelines on screen design transfer to screen design for web based applications? Users need to be able to find the metaphoric ‘signposts’ within an information space, and from those signposts be able to easily understand their current position in that information, their possible interaction alternatives, and the usefulness and appropriateness to their task of the various navigation paths on offer from that point. The objects and widgets in the interface providing this information are know as the visual cues, and it is my intention within the scope of my PhD investigations to analyse the effectiveness of the different elements of the visual screen layout which can contribute to the user’s sense of where they are, and where they can go. This investigation is being limited to flexible teaching and learning applications, within the virtual university paradigm. The web is a rapid generation, easy update design environment, more so than the authoring environments traditionally used to created computer assisted learning packages. The question is, does this added flexibility offer the interface designer an opportunity to create a more functional and transparent interface for the learner, or will it simply add to the complexity of the human-computer interaction?