Research Trends in Web Site Usability: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The present study aims to review systematically all the studies of web site usability conducted in the years from 2005 to 2014, in order to present the research trends in usability issues of web sites. Regarding the inclusion criteria, 199 studies in total were included in the study. The major findings include that the most frequently addressed usability issue is navigation (excluding general usability issues), most of the studies used user-based Usability Evaluation Methods (UEMs), the most frequently used user-based methods are questionnaire and usability testing, and user experience of special user groups was not taken into consideration much. This comprehensive research on the usability issues of web sites provides important implications for future research by presenting the research trends. Also, it has the importance of being a reference for the reviewing process with the analysis structure of research questions, especially with the proposed classification for UEMs.