IHE 733 Dr Yan Liu FINAL PROJECT REPORT-IHE 733 CULTURAL IMPACTS ON WEBSITE DESIGNIHE 733 Dr Yan Liu INTRODUCTION The design of websites is a very challenging task as it needs to designed in such a way that users belonging to different cultures find it user friendly and attractive. The following report consists of summaries of articles, which studies • Interference of culture on website design and difference in the interests of people belonging too different cultures, with respect to website design, color, appearance, style etc… • How culture affects usability. • How personalization can attract users and what all aspects of the webpage needs to be considered for personalization. Summarizing all the relevant points from the articles reviewed, a hypothesis has been derived which directs us to a new study. SET 1 ARTICLE-1 Localization of Web Design: An Empirical Comparison of German, Japanese, and United States Web Site Characteristics This article is based on a study conducted to analyze sites in Germany, Japan, and the United States (30 municipal sites in each country) in order to explore issues of user interface design and experience, including culturally preferred design elements. Eight site elements were examined related to local preferences in a sample of users from these countries. Total sample size used was 90 Web sites. Design elements considered were use of symbols and graphics, color preferences, site features (links, maps, search functions, and page layout), language, and content. Significant modal differences were found in each of the listed categories. The paper believed that when Web sites are appropriate and culturally sensitive, then users will have increased access to content and enhanced user experiences. Localization is the process of adapting a product or service to a particular language, culture, and desired local "look-and-feel." The study confirmed that colors of website, representation of language and script, design preferences, symbols, Content and structure, number and functionality of links vary across cultures. There was considerable variation related to the use of color. For example, Japanese used the color red twice as much as did Germans or Americans, although in all cases the percentages were small. Of interest, Japan sites used other colors such as yellow, green, blue, or purple more than the expected use of a large percentage of red. German sites used a limited range of colors such as shades of blue and purple, as well as white. Results of the investigation provide statistically significant evidence to support the theory that design preferences differ across cultures. This finding likewise supports a general call for localization of Web content and provides some directions related to specific cultural preferences in Web design. ARTICLE-2 Cultural Similarities and Differences in the Design of University Websites This study examines cultural differences and similarities in design of university websites using Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions. Graphical elements on a sample of university home pages from Malaysia, Austria, USA, Ecuador, Japan, Sweden, Greece and Denmark wereIHE 733 Dr Yan Liu compared using content analysis methods. The home pages were analyzed on the basis of two criteria: organization and graphical design. Element frequency scores were correlated with Hofstede's indexes and interpreted on the basis of the existing literature. The results suggest that similarities and differences in web site design can be brought out through Hofstede's cultural model. The question that guides this study is to what extent the design of websites differs across cultures, and whether the differences can be measured using Hofstede's cultural model. To investigate this question, the genre of university websites was chosen. For each of the dimensions of culture identified by Hofstede, two countries were selected, one with the highest score and one with the lowest score in Hofstede's research. The following was observed Language: Most of the sites with another language version limited themselves to two languages (usually the native language and English), but in several cases the number of languages was greater. In several cases the English version of the page was the first one to be displayed, possibly because the site sent a cookie to check from where the download request was generated. The pages in other languages were usually linked to the native language homepage. Color: The colors on the Greek pages are rather toned down. A white background was commonly chosen for Malaysian sites and they made use of heavy animation, mostly through animated text. In Ecuador, it was seen that bright colors and animation play an important role. Sweden displayed a strong preference for a white background and drawings were almost absent. In Denmark, color schemes involving various shades of blue seemed to be dominant. The colors of the Austrian sites were mostly toned down. Similarly, in the U.S., the only two colors chosen for the background, white and yellow. The colors for the graphic and textual elements, however, ranged from toned down to bright and from light to dark, with bold colors tending to be most prevalent. Information organization: There were some culturally motivated differences in the ways universities in the selected countries organized their sites. With regard to orientation, Austria, Denmark, and Ecuador clearly preferred horizontal page design, while Japan and Malaysia most frequently chose a vertical one. Japan had both horizontal and vertical scrolling. It was concluded from the paper that • The design of the university websites studied here varied across cultures. • In each of the countries studied, certain characteristics occurred more frequently than in other countries: use of photos in Sweden, art depiction in Greece, use of animation in Malaysia and Ecuador, pastel colors in Japan, etc. • Differences in colors schemes and image themes were also evident • The websites also showed strong similarities across countries: students were most often the subject of the pictures (shown studying or laughing); and images of campus were common. ARTICLE-3 Cultural