Users Decide First; Move Second

The use of DHTML navigation to bring content that is located deep within the site to the top in a site's Global Navigation is becoming increasingly more common (Example 1). Sites such as Crate & Barrel, MSNBC, and Cisco have employed this design element to conserve valuable space and bring all the options to the top with the aim of improving the user's experience.

^{Example 1: DHTML Navigation Crate & Barrel}

Unfortunately, a recent study by Jared Spool's User Interface Engineering (UIE) has found that the rate of user success in finding content they were looking for was dramatically decreased on sites that use DHTML and Drop Down navigation than those that did not.

This in no uncertain terms means that standard layouts with a good content hierarchy did a better job of getting users to content they were looking for and to valuable information they had no idea existed. At a very high level UIE observed that:

• Users decide what they are going to click before they even move the mouse.
  
  
  
• DHTML navigation can't help users decide where to click because the information isn't available to users when they are making their decision
  
  
  
• It isn't until a user has decided where to click that they see what the element has to say.
  
  
  
• In situations where DHTML navigation is employed, users became disoriented once they realized there was more information available to them in the drop down. The user stopped, re-evaluated the whole page, and also lost confidence that they were clicking in the right places.
  

UIE's study has particular relevance here as I am working on projects that begin to deal with complex content organization schemes. We are increasingly faced with trying to present content that is increasingly organized in a very hierarchical manner that are several clicks of the home page. One answer to dealing with this challenge has been an exploration of DHTML drop down menus. Yet another way to address these needs is to understand how our clients expect to find content/functionality and address those needs by providing multiple paths to what they want based upon who they are.

Testing the Three-Click Rule for Navigation

One of the most often heard complaints from users on websites, is that it takes too long to find things. They tell us that if they didn't have to click so much to find things that they could find things easier and reduce their overall frustration. Companies have been very mindful of these complaints, given the fact that if users get frustrated and can't find what they are looking for, the competition is sure to be only one click away.

This common complaint has impacted navigation design from the beginning of the web in the form of what is commonly referred to as the "Three-Click Rule." Essentially this rule translates into a mantra that every piece of content should be no more than three clicks away from the site's home page. However, recent research by Jared Spool's User Interface Engineering sheds some doubt on whether the Three-Click Rule is really effective in addressing this particular area of user frustration.

In their research, they tested whether users will really leave a site after 3 clicks. What they found after analyzing +8000 clicks was users did not leave a site after more than 3 clicks nor did their level of frustration dramatically increase if they did not navigate to content after the magic number 3. In many cases the study found that people successfully completed their tasks after 25 clicks or more with little decrease in overall satisfaction with their experience with the web site.

So what does all this research tell us about user frustration? Users often complain about how long it takes to find things and complaining about the number of clicks is one way to vocalize their frustration. When users find what they want (whether it was 3 clicks or 25 clicks) they do not complain about the number of clicks. In the end it is not necessarily important how many clicks a user has to go through to complete a task, but whether or not they were successful in finding what they were looking for in the first place. Unfortunately, strictly adhering to the Three Click Rule will not be the panacea to address user frustrations with navigation.