Table 1.

The 12 website design variables.

Wording used for design feature	Design feature	Levels of dimensions in the factorial design
		Low	High
Navigational depth	Number of pages one needs to navigate to get from the home page to a desired piece of information.	≤3	≥5
Number of hyperlinks on a page	Each hyperlink is counted as one link. They may be embedded in standard text (ie, nonhyperlinked text) or stand alone, buttons (images, icons, and logos) or tool bars, and pull-down/pop-up menus. This variable is the total number of hyperlinks on a page.	≤7	≥14
Pop-up menu	Use of a pop-up menu to display the hyperlinks on the page.	0	1
Reading level	The grade level of links, labels, and text.	≤7	≥9
Words per page	Number of words on a page.	<100	≥200
Screen length	Screen length of navigation pages (paging vs scrolling)	≤1	>1
Number of distinct navigation areas	The number of separate areas on a page where users will find hyperlinks that can navigate the site.	≤2	≥4
Font size of body text	The size of the text used in the website	10 point	13 point
Number of words per hyperlink	The number of words used in the hyperlinks to the application’s contents.	≤3	≥6
Number of nonhyperlink graphic elements on a page	This includes images, pictures, graphics (eg, color bars), and figures on a page that are not hyperlinks. They are for decoration or illustration only.	0	≥3
Constant navigational toolbar	Navigational tool bars that are in the same area across all pages on a website.	0	1
Number of topic areas on a page	A topic is an area devoted to one subject, purpose, or theme. For example, it could be a welcome paragraph; a list of links to main topics in the website (with or without introductory text); a list of links to news about the latest research on a topic; or a place to enter data, such as a search engine box.	≤4	≥6