11 August 2005
A recent study by Glamorgan University Business School has provided some highly significant data that may well revolutionise web design.
The report highlighted important differences in what men and women liked in a website, and the information gleaned could provide useful guidelines for web designers looking to cater more suitably for their target audience.
Whereas women were found to prefer sites with more colourful backgrounds and typeface, men tended to prefer those that used dark colours, horizontal lines and a three dimensional look.
Gloria Moss, a Glamorgan research fellow, explained: "We started off by looking at the personal websites created by 60 university students, 30 male and 30 female, to discover whether there were any major design differences.
"We looked at factors such as language, visuals, and navigation - the differences were immediately apparent.
"We compared the sites on 23 factors and differences emerged on just over half of these. This is a massive number."
The report also showed that websites also tended to cater overwhelming to men rather than women.
Ms Moss feels that as a result of this, site-designers are missing out on a huge potential target audience and that, by looking to create websites that appeal to both sexes, the Internet could be made even more popular and accessible.
"At the very least," she concluded, "we think there ought to be a combination of aesthetics."© Adfero Ltd
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