How experienced users avoid getting lost in large display networks

This article provides a cognitive analysis of how people navigate in the co mputer medium. As the complexity of computerized information systems increa ses, interface designers face the formidable challenge of supporting naviga tion within these systems to allow users to quickly obtain relevant informa tion. Instead of focusing on the comparison of a small subset of proposed t echniques for aiding navigation, this study investigates how people handle navigation within the natural context of a familiar computer environment an d reveals cognitive processes that can be better supported to aid navigatio n. The results of a field study and a field experiment converge to support previous navigation-related theories and contribute to a pattern of navigat ion behavior that has been noticed in domains like anesthesiology and nucle ar power. This article describes the characteristics of the computer medium that influence people's ability to navigate, discusses typical navigation problems that arise in this medium, and describes how designers can aid nav igation, based on an analysis of how computer users change their behavior a nd adapt to computer systems to overcome navigation-related problems.