Arabic Website Design Must Bridge Usability Gaps in Fonts and Images | HackerNoon

Table of Links

Abstract and I. Introduction

II. Previous Works

III. Research Methodology

IV. Font and Image Inspection Studies

V. Results

VI. Discussion

VII. Conclusions, Future Research Directions, and References

II. PREVIOUS WORKS

A. Perceived Usability

Online companies that provide a rich user experience by accounting for website usability are more likely to succeed than those which do not [1], [6]. In other words, unusable websites drive customers away and cause them to look for alternative websites [7]. Perceived web usability is a quality factor that refers to the empowerment of users to achieve their goals and needs by exploiting the design features of the website [6]. Perceived usability is believed to contribute towards accepting and using a particular technology; for instance, [8] demonstrated that perceived usability impacts the acceptance of educational technologies by teachers.

Perception of website usability has been linked to numerous factors including attractiveness, controllability, efficiency, learnability, and helpfulness [33]. Moreover, users „demographics are found to influence overall website perception. Further research reported a consolidated model of usability metrics and measurements [9]. This model encompassed 10 factors which are, in turn, divided into 126 metrics. The proposed quality in use integrated measurement model included efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, satisfaction, learnability, safety, trustfulness, accessibility, universality, and usefulness [9]. The readability of the text is indicated as one of the key metrics contributing to perceived usability.

B. Web Design and Content

So what actually affects web design quality and overall usability perception of customers? Research has indicated that various factors impact how users perceive and interact with online websites. Indeed, both web content and web design have been considered as critical factors leading to the success of websites and repeated customer visits [3], [1]. Author in [2] defined content as the information or services available on a particular website whilst design refers to the way this content is presented to the users. For example, [1] proposed a web usability assessment model that incorporates multiple factors such as navigation, content, and layout. Evidence in the literature confirms that when textual content is readable easily, the website receives higher usability by its viewers [10].

Authors in [10] and [11] carried out three website studies to explore the relationship between the perceived usability of websites, web design and performance. Findings showed that website success and satisfaction are highly correlated with the available content, navigational structure, interactivity, feedback, and site loading speed. Author in [7] presented an automated tool that checks the conformance of websites to design guidelines and predicts an overall website rating. The usability checks assess the quality of the web design by measuring aspects related to the text, links, graphics, as well as their formatting. However, the model neither investigated Arabic fonts nor the types of images used.

Author in [12] found that web design is a critical success factor for positive user experience and interaction on websites. Effective web design contributes towards user acceptance and empowers users to find relevant information easily in ecommerce sites. Moreover, visual appearance is found to significantly influence users‟ perceptions of business to consumer websites [13].

Author in [14] described a detailed framework to assess the usefulness of web content. A total of 18 content benchmarking criteria (e. g. text quality, scope, accuracy, uniqueness) were collated from existing works and expert reviews. In respect to screen appearance, the authors suggested using different readable font sizes. Effective and easy navigational structures within a site are favored by website users than complex navigations [14].

C. Font Type and Size

Font type and font size influence the readability and legibility of text. Recent research, for instance [47], demonstrated that difficult to read fonts encourage the willingness to pay for the adventure tours. A strong link between visual attributes of travel text and intention to travel was established. In addition, [49] showed that users‟ judgment of memory retention will be higher as a result of increasing the font size. In smartphones, the big text was liked more than smaller text when styling brand names [50].

Author in [1] advocated using adequate font size for displaying information on websites. However, determining the appropriate font type and size for text on websites is not an easy task. In an eye-tracking experiment, [15] demonstrated through eye gaze data that the speed of online reading deteriorates in the presence of small font sizes. Only Helvetica and Georgia fonts were compared at varied sizes 10, 12, and 14 points. Surprisingly, no significant differences were detected between these sizes and between the serif and non-serif fonts in respect to reading speed.

In contrast, Serif fonts performed better than Sans Serif with respect to online readability [4] and information recall [16] whilst Sans Serif fonts were preferred over Serif fonts [4]. Font type Verdana at size 14 points ranked first amongst online readers and induced the lowest mental load.

Author in [10] carried out an experiment to compare eight famous fonts, namely Century Schoolbook, Courier New, Georgia, Times New Roman, Arial, Comic Sans MS, Tahoma, and Verdana at size 10, 12, and 14 points respectively. Although these varied sizes did not result in different reading efficiency, Times New Roman and Arial were read significantly faster than the other fonts. Moreover, font size 10 was read significantly slower than font size 12 and 14. In respect to legibility, Arial and Courier were perceived more legible than the remaining fonts. Size, however, did not seem to improve font legibility. In respect to attractiveness, Georgia was rated as the most attractive font amongst the candidate fonts. The overall ranking of fonts showed Verdana as the most preferred font, whereas Times New Roman was ranked as the least preferred font type.

In a relevant study, students aged between 10 and 12 years participated in a screen legibility experiment of Arabic characters [4]. Only two font types were investigated, mainly Arabic Traditional and Simplified Arabic in different sizes 10, 14, 16 and 18 points respectively. Results indicated that font size 16 and 18 were more readable than font size 10 and 14 by 9-12 years aged students. However, font size 10 triggered the highest number of errors. Nonetheless, [4] claim that font type did not influence the readability of the Arabic language.

For the English language, font size 10 and 12 points were found to be equally readable [10]. However, for the Arabic characters [17] suggested that text is more readable at font size 14 points. Moreover, [17] claimed that font types influence reading speed, which contradicts the findings of [4]. In fact, author in [4] recommends using at least font size 18 point and over for efficient online reading of the Arabic text.

More recent research investigated how four fonts (i.e. Georgia, Verdana, Times New Roman, and Arial) impact online readability [18]. Verdana and Georgia were favored for computer displays while Times New Roman and Arial were favored for printed media. Reference [19] confirmed Verdana as a more suitable font type for showing English text on computerized screens.

D. Images

Author in [14] emphasized the need to use images and graphical elements to convey messages and improve the overall usability of websites. Moreover, the use of graphics enhances the aesthetics of websites and leads to user satisfaction [18]. Visual appeal was deemed as important as content for visual arts websites [3]. Graphics are known to improve the overall perceived attractiveness of websites and design considerations must be catered for different cultures [20].

Author in [21] compared three different e-commerce web designs, a website containing no human images, a website containing human images without faces, and a website containing images with human faces to explore how the use of images influence visual appeal of websites. The websites utilizing images with human faces were perceived as more appealing and trustworthy. Reference [22] emphasized the need to take cultural differences into consideration when embedding graphical components within e-commerce websites.

E. Design Guidelines

Author in [22] recommended the design of culturally sensitive websites, use of correct translation, employment of consistent colors, and minimization of animations. HHS design guidelines advised using at least font size 12 points and sticking to familiar fonts [23], [24]. For image usage, HHS design guidelines proposed to add images to the website and use images of people, but reduce their size so as not to slow down page loading. Reference [48] suggested the consideration of site loading time as a key usability metric as part of an evaluation framework of dual language websites.

F. The Research Gap

Research efforts tackling the usability of Arabic websites are limited. Some studies examined the performance of Arabic websites by inspecting the internal attributes of the HTML pages. For example, [25] compared three Arabic educational websites and reported technical issues related to the site loading speed as a direct consequence of the excessive number of HTML objects and images and their large size. Similarly, [26] inspected the number of HTML files, objects, images, CSS files, broken links and size of images on 9 websites using two specialized online tools. Other aspects reported included pa`ge loading time, HTML errors and browser compatibility.

Until today and despite the prevalence of the Arabic language on the web, there are still no systematic studies that examine the use of fonts and images on Arabic websites. This is the first research effort to review and analyze a large number of websites to identify the real practices pertaining to the usage of fonts and images on Arabic websites.