Web site designs: Influences of designer’s expertise and design constraints

Paper accepted for publication by editor, B.R. Gaines Nowadays, much research examines both the cognitive difficulties encountered by web site users and the development of ergonomic guidelines for designers. However, few studies examine designers ’ cognitive functioning while designing web sites. We defend the idea that determining the difficulties web site designers encounter is necessary to better support their design activities, especially in making web sites easier to use. We present an experimental study that demonstrates that the designers ’ levels of expertise (novice and professional) as well as the design constraints that clients prescribe influences both the number and the nature of constraints designers articulate and respect in their web site designs. Based on our study findings, we suggest ways to better support web site designers