World Wide Web navigation aid

The challenge for the World Wide Web user is to discover and rediscover useful information from very rich but also very diversified sources in the Web environment. The Web browser is a key interface to facilitate Web information access. In this paper, a framework is proposed to identify and investigate key factors that determine the Web browser's ability to assist users in performing various information retrieval tasks. Design guidelines to help overcome the limitations associated with human information processing and the Web environment are introduced. Based on these guidelines, an online history tool (MEMOS) is developed to support user browsing, organization, and rediscovery tasks in both intra-sessional and inter-sessional information retrieval. Empirical tests of user performance with the MEMOS tool are analysed in the context of our framework. We show that the MEMOS tool was perceived to be more useful than the history mechanisms used in popular Web browsers, but its benefit was most significant for inter-sessional support. Using sessions previously saved through the MEMOS tool to tackle specific retrieval questions was significantly faster and more accurate than trying to use standard rediscovery methods.