RETRACTED: How web-interface design impacts task performance, cognitive load, and user experience (UX): An exploration with a cohort of South African university students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23962/ajic.i36.23095Keywords:
web-interface design, task performance, cognitive load, cognitive load theory (CLT), user experience (UX), digital nativesAbstract
THIS ARTICLE WAS RETRACTED BY THE AUTHOR ON 9 FEBRUARY 2026: This study explores how differences in web-interface design can generate variations in users’ task performance, cognitive load, and user experience (UX). In the study, a cohort of 32 purposively selected South African university students aged 18–24 was presented with an information-seeking and problem-solving task—calculation of the calories they should consume per day based on their age, gender, height, weight, and activity level—and they were asked to choose among several possible websites/pages to complete the task. A mix of quantitative and qualitative data was collected to explore the participants’ web-interface choices, task performance (speed and success), cognitive load, and UX. The majority of participants (84.4%) selected the most visually rich, interactive, tool-based web interface to complete the task, and these participants completed the task faster, with lower cognitive effort and with higher satisfaction, than the participants who chose a site with a less visually compelling and interactive interface. These findings point to the need for disseminators of educational and public-service information targeted at “digital natives” to prioritise the use of visually rich, interactive, tool-based web interfaces for their online materials.
References
Anokwa, Y., Smyth, T. N., Ramachandran, D., Sherwani, J., Schwartzman, Y., Luk, R., Ho, M., Moraveji, N., & DeRenzi, B. (2009). Stories from the field: Reflections on HCI4D experiences. Information Technologies and International Development, 5(4), 101–115
Bangor, A., Kortum, P. T., & Miller, J. T. (2008). An empirical evaluation of the System Usability Scale. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 24(6), 574–594. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10447310802205776
https://doi.org/10.1080/10447310802205776 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10447310802205776
Beaird, J., & George, J. (2020). The principles of beautiful web design (4th ed.). SitePoint.
Berners-Lee, T. (1999). Weaving the web: The original design and ultimate destiny of the World Wide Web by its inventor. HarperCollins.
Bidwell, N. J. (2016). Moving the centre to design social media in rural Africa. AI & Society, 31(1), 51–68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-014-0564-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-014-0564-5
Boateng, R., Heeks, R., Molla, A., & Hinson, R. (2011). Advancing e-commerce beyond readiness in a developing country. Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, 9(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.4018/jeco.2011010101 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/jeco.2011010101
Brooke, J. (1996). SUS: A “quick and dirty” usability scale. In P. W. Jordan, B. Thomas, B. A. Weerdmeester, & I. L. McClelland (Eds.), Usability evaluation in industry (pp. 189–194). Taylor & Francis.
Content Science. (2025, January 2). Gen Z content consumption fact sheet. https://review.content-science.com/gen-z-content-consumption-fact-sheet
Darejeh, A., Marcus, N., Mohammadi, G., & Sweller, J. (2024). A critical analysis of cognitive load measurement methods for evaluating the usability of different types of interfaces: Guidelines and framework for Human-Computer Interaction. arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.11820.
Dell, N., & Kumar, N. (2016). The ins and outs of HCI for development. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 2220–2232). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858081 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858081
Densmore, M., Smyth, T., Kam, M., & Dearden, A. (2009). Human–computer interaction for development: The past, present, and future. Information Technologies and International Development, 5(1), 1.
DeStefano, D., & LeFevre, J. A. (2007). Cognitive load in hypertext reading: A review. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(3), 1616–1641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2005.08.012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2005.08.012
Ericsson, K. A., & Simon, H. A. (1993). Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data (Rev. ed.). MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5657.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5657.001.0001
Fang, X., & Holsapple, C. (2011). Impacts of navigation structure, task complexity, and users’ domain knowledge on website usability—An empirical study. Information Systems Frontiers, 13, 453–469. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-010-9227-3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-010-9227-3
Faudzi, M. A., Cob, Z. C., Sharudin, S. A., Omar, R., & Ghazali, M. (2024). User interface design in mobile learning applications: Developing and evaluating a questionnaire for measuring learners’ extraneous cognitive load. Heliyon, 10(18), e37494. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e37494 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e37494
Garrett, J. J. (2011). The elements of user experience: User-centered design for the web and beyond (2nd ed.). New Riders.
George, A. S. (2024). Trendsetters: How Gen Z defined 2024. Partners Universal Innovative Research Publication, 2(3), 92–103. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11661558
Hart, S. G. (2006). NASA-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX); 20 years later. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 50(9), 904–908. https://doi.org/10.1177/154193120605000909 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/154193120605000909
Hart, S. G., & Staveland, L. E. (1988). Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index): Results of empirical and theoretical research. In P. A. Hancock & N. Meshkati (Eds.), Human mental workload (pp. 139–183). North-Holland. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4115(08)62386-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4115(08)62386-9
Hassenzahl, M., & Tractinsky, N. (2006). User experience – a research agenda. Behaviour & Information Technology, 25(2), 91–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290500330331 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290500330331
Ho, M. R., Smyth, T. N., Kam, M., & Dearden, A. (2009). Human–computer interaction for development: The past, present, and future. Information Technologies & International Development, 5(4), 1–18
International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). (2018). ISO 9241-11:2018: Ergonomics of human-system interaction—Part 11: Usability: Definitions and concepts. https://www.iso.org/standard/63500.html
Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive load theory: How many types of load does it really need? Educational Psychology Review, 23(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-010-9150-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-010-9150-7
Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2009). InterViews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing (2nd ed.). SAGE.
Law, E. L.-C., Roto, V., Hassenzahl, M., Vermeeren, A. P. O. S., & Kort, J. (2009). Understanding, scoping and defining user experience: A survey approach. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 719–728). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/1518701.1518813 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1518701.1518813
Levene, M. (2011). An introduction to search engines and web navigation (2nd ed.). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470874233 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470874233
Lindgaard, G., Fernandes, G., Dudek, C., & Brown, J. (2006). Attention web designers: You have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression! Behaviour & Information Technology, 25(2), 115–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290500330448 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290500330448
Mayer, R. E. (2014). The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139547369 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139547369.002
Nielsen, J. (1993). Usability engineering. Morgan Kaufmann. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-052029-2.50009-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-052029-2.50009-7
Nielsen, J. (2012, January 3). Usability 101: Introduction to usability. Nielsen Norman Group. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction-to-usability
Nielsen, J. (2024, January 30). 10 usability heuristics for user interface design. Nielsen Norman Group. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
Norman, D. A. (2013). The design of everyday things (revised and expanded ed.). Basic Books.
Ntoa, S. (2024). Usability and user experience evaluation in intelligent environments: A review and reappraisal. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 41(5), 2829–2858. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2024.2394724 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2024.2394724
Owusu, A., Acheampong, S., & Penu, O. (2022). E-government research in Africa: A systematic review. In E-government research in Africa: A systematic review (pp. 1–31). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1781-2_10 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1781-2_10
Paluch, S., Tuzovic, S., Holz, H., Kies, A., & Jörling, M. (2022). “My colleague is a robot” – exploring frontline employees' willingness to work with collaborative service robots. Journal of Service Management, 33(2), 363–388. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-11-2020-0406 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-11-2020-0406
Perrig, S. A. C., Aeschbach, L. F., Scharowsky, N., von Felten, N., Opwis, K., & Brühlmann, F. (2024). Measurement practices in user experience (UX) research: A systematic quantitative literature review. Frontiers in Computer Science, 6, 1368860. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2024.1368860 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2024.1368860
Pew Research Center. (2021). Internet/broadband fact sheet. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/internet-broadband/
Pirolli, P., & Card, S. (1999). Information foraging. Psychological Review, 106(4), 643–675. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.106.4.643 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-295X.106.4.643
Plekhanov, D., Franke, H., & Netland, T. H. (2023). Digital transformation: A review and research agenda. European Management Journal, 41(6), 821–844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2022.09.007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2022.09.007
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816
Priyadarshini, P. (2024). The impact of user interface design on user engagement. International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology, 13(3). https://www.ijert.org/the-impact-of-user-interface-design-on-user-engagement
Raptis, D., Tselios, N., Kjeldskov, J., & Skov, M. (2013). Does size matter? Investigating the impact of mobile phone screen size on users’ perceived usability, effectiveness and efficiency. In Proceedings of the 15th international conference on human–computer interaction with mobile devices and services (MobileHCI ’13). https://doi.org/10.1145/2493190.2493204 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/2493190.2493204
Skulmowski, A., & Xu, K. M. (2022). Understanding cognitive load in digital and online learning: A new perspective on extraneous cognitive load. Educational Psychology Review, 34, 171–196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-021-09624-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-021-09624-7
Surbakti, R., Umboh, S. E., Pong, M., & Dara, S. (2024). Cognitive load theory: Implications for instructional design in digital classrooms. International Journal of Educational Narratives, 2(6), 483–493. https://doi.org/10.70177/ijen.v2i6.1659 DOI: https://doi.org/10.70177/ijen.v2i6.1659
Sweller, J. (2011). Cognitive load theory. In J. P. Mestre & B. H. Ross (Eds.), The psychology of learning and motivation: Cognition in education (pp. 37–76). Elsevier Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-387691-1.00002-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-387691-1.00002-8
Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive load theory (2nd ed.). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8126-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8126-4
Sweller, J., van Merriënboer, J. J. G., & Paas, F. (2019). Cognitive architecture and instructional design: 20 years later. Educational Psychology Review, 31, 261–292. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09465-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09465-5
Toyama, K. (2015). Geek heresy: Rescuing social change from the cult of technology. PublicAffairs.
Turner, A. (2015). Generation Z: Technology and social interest. The Journal of Individual Psychology, 71(2), 103–113. https://doi.org/10.1353/jip.2015.0021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jip.2015.0021
Webillism. (2024, December 12). Web design trends and innovation in Africa: A look back at the last three years.
Wyche, S., & Steinfield, C. (2016). Why don’t farmers use cell phones to access market prices? Technology affordances and barriers to market information services adoption in rural Kenya. Information Technology for Development, 22(2), 320–333. https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2015.1048184 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2015.1048184
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 André Delwyn Gopal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
- Abstract 141
- PDF 10
.png){kind=spacer}