Navigation design for interactive multimedia

Some of the most crucial design factors for multimedia systems are navigation and orientation. Without the system's offering an intuitively understandable and easy to use navigation design the users will neither be able to efficiently operate the system, nor will they feel motivated to keep on using it. Efficiency in the use of a system presupposes the users' understanding of and feeling of competence to handle the underlying navigation concept regardless of whether the user in question is a computer novice or an expert. The possibility to form a coherent mental model on the system's underlying structure is essential for the user in order to maintain orientation. Not knowing the answers to the four well-known questions of where he is located, where he came from, what possibilities for navigation are open to him as well as reminding his original task implies that the structures are not transparent enough to offer guidance and assure orientation. Such an experience will frustrate the use r and thus lead to a diminishing acceptance of the system. In the worst case, the feeling of "being lost in hyperspace" might arise. Good navigation concepts avail the user of the possibility to choose the individually suitable navigation and information selection structure while at the same time offering comprehensive and detailed help. For these reasons, ISO 14915 Part 2 gives recommendations on the control of media and navigation in multimedia applications.