Table 6.

Best and worst performing designs and design variables for finding information.

Participant group			Design elements
The best performing websites had these design elements
	Diagnostic group		Dimensions (overall success rate for the design)
	SSDa		Low navigational depth (≤3 levels) and pop-up menu (79/154, 51%)
	Mental illness other than SSD		Low navigational depth (≤3 levels), page length ≤1 screen long, and ≤7 hyperlinks per page (42/62, 68%)
	No mental illness		Low navigational depth (≤3 levels), pop-up menu, hyperlinks ≤7 per page, and page length ≤1 screen long (26/41, 63%)
	All participants		Low navigational depth (≤3 levels), ≤7 hyperlinks per page, and pop-up menu (129/222, 58%)
The worst performing websites had these design elements
	SSD		High navigational depth (≥5 levels) and ≥14 hyperlinks per page (15/166, 9%)
	Mental illness other than SSD		High navigational depth (≥5 levels) and ≥200 words per page (19/112, 17%)
	No mental illness		High navigational depth (≥5 levels), ≥14 hyperlinks, and ≥200 words per page (6/79, 8%)
	All participants		High navigational depth (≥5 levels), ≥200 words per page, and ≥14 hyperlinks (20/224, 9%)
The worst performing websites with low navigational depth (≤3 levels) had these design elements
	SSD		No pop-up menu and high reading level greater than or equal to ninth grade (32/79, 40%)
	Mental illness other than SSD		Page length >1 screen long (64/125, 51%)
	No mental illness		No pop-up menu (80/166, 48%)
	All participants		≥14 hyperlinks per page, ≥200 words per page, and high reading level greater than or equal to ninth grade (46/107, 43%)
The best performing websites with high navigational depth (≥5 levels) had these design elements
	SSD		≤7 hyperlinks per page, pop-up menu and <100 words per page (12/42, 29%)
	Mental illness other than SSD		<100 words per page (29/125, 23%)
	No mental illness		≤7 hyperlinks per page (27/141, 19%)
	All participants		<100 words per page, ≤7 hyperlinks per page, and pop-up menu (30/112, 27%)
Variables that, when present, always had a positive effect on performance
	Variable		Variable was also present in the best performing design for n of the 4 groups (the 3 diagnostic groups and all participants)
		Low navigational depth	4
		Pop-up menu used	3
		≤7 hyperlinks	3
		Page length ≤1 screen long	2
Variables that, when present, always had a negative effect on performance
	Variable		Variable was also present in the worst performing design for n of the 4 groups (the 3 diagnostic groups and all participants)
		High navigational depth (≥5 levels)	4
		≥200 words per page	2
		≥14 hyperlinks per page	2
		Page length >1 screen long	0 (none)
		High reading level (≥ninth grade)	0 (none)

^aSSD: schizophrenia spectrum disorder.