With the current heterogeneous design of Web site navigation systems in use today, many users must relearn how to navigate these Web sites with every new Web site they visit, even when navigating within the same domain. The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to identify users' preference frequencies for characteristics of Web sites' navigation features, and to examine if the preference frequencies differed with users' demographic characteristics. The study was designed to address these issues through user responses to a Web-based survey. The study's population consisted of users of selected Internet forums/search engines that were expected to be frequented by Web developers, designers, and Web site managers. In addition, Northcentral University learners and faculty were asked to participate. Using a priori power analysis, the desired total sample size was 156 respondents. A total of 160 surveys were returned. A statistical significance level of .05 was used. Findings indicated users do prefer domain-specific, standardized Web site navigation systems to a standalone, non-standardized Web site navigation system; common/standardized menu navigation system to different/non-standardized menu navigation; and, users prefer menu systems with sub-menus to no sub-menu navigation system. However, with the exception of gender there were no significant preference differences among users' demographic characteristics. The conclusions from the study could be used to provide Web site developers, designers, and managers, with design guidelines for more intuitive Web site navigation systems, thereby enabling more meaningful and efficient searches.
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