Abstract
Little empirical research has been completed on how different types of visitors react to web-site designs. At one end of the web-user dichotomy is the searcher, who is seeking specific information. At the other end is the surfer, who is clicking from link to link mainly for amusement. A major factor in web-page design is the location and size of graphic images. According to some theories, forcing a visitor to scroll around large images to find text links might reduce the number of clicks on a web site's links. An experiment tested that concept by manipulating a web page's appearance-changing the size, number, and location of images in relationship to text links (to additional pages on the site). While the research found no significant relationship between web-visitor clicking behavior and the various image conditions, the study's methodology establishes a solid empirical approach to assessing the activities of web-site visitors by counting clicks.
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