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Abstract

Initial impression of visual complexity has major significance for both consumer and enterprise web page designs. Research is still needed, however, before complexity assessment methods can become part of the usability tool arsenal. In this regard, a study was conducted to compare subjective ratings, eye tracking, JPEG-compressed file size, and emotional valence measures. Professional enterprise users conducted search tasks, then judged the complexity of web pages. Multivariate factor analysis was followed by ordinal logistic regressions on subjective ratings. Subjective ratings of page complexity were driven in part by self-perception of search difficulty, and in part by page density. Fixation durations increased and search area decreased with lower complexity ratings. Aggregated emotional valence, from facial analysis, also increased with higher ratings of page clarity. Overall, both pre-attentive eye tracking and emotional valence measures were related to conscious subjective judgments of complexity. Further research is recommended to be able to ascribe complexity-inducing features to measurable qualities.

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Relating Perceived Web Page Complexity to Emotional Valence and Eye Movement Metrics

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