Abstract:
The main goal of the study was to enhance the attractiveness of Sri Lankan web sites
on the basis of Psychological aspects. It helps to bridge the gap between user and the
web site through feedback given for web designers to create web sites, which cater the
interests of web users in Sri Lanka through developing user satisfaction. The study
was done using qualitative research methodology. The data was collected through a
semi-structured interview, which was refined from a pilot study. Six participants were
selected that included three males and three females, between the ages of 20 - 40. The
sample was selected from the Faculty of Arts, especially from the Information
Technology Center, University of Peradeniya. The current research investigated all
the visual cues commonly used in web sites through psychological aspects. The
results indicated 16 themes and some themes contained sub themes. The themes have
revealed how to design and allocate visual cues on web sites. The first four themes
covered overall aspect of web designing, those were; user friendly features, attractive
features, features in visible area and methods of allocating information. The rest
expressed visual cues separately, namely; the main menu, the search bar, the scroll
bar, marquee tool/text, modelers and stars on web, hyperlinks, symbols, animations,
images, text, colors and white space. This research can be extended further, by the
analysis of gender differences in attractive visual cues or auditory cues in web sites
and psychological effects on web sites for youth in Sri Lankan context.
