Adaptivity considerations for enhancing user-centric web experience

Abstract

User Experience (UX) design relates to the creation of models that affect user experiences during interaction with a system, while the incorporation of cognitive factors in the personalization process of Web systems might provide a more user-centric approach. This paper explores the influence specific cognitive factors may have on UX qualities to be used as adaptivity factors for personalizing and improving users' experiences in commercial Web-sites. A user experience evaluation was conducted where 96 students navigated in an existing commercial Web-site for a problem-based task. A user experience measurement was performed so as to assess users' perceptions regarding the pragmatic, hedonic and attraction qualities of the environment. It has been observed that specific cognitive factors have considerable influence on specific qualities of user experience. To this end, such findings are encouraging for further investigation of the possible impact of cognitive factors in terms of enhancing the personalization process of commercial Web-sites so as to achieve better user experience. Copyright © IARIA, 2012.