The interface design of electronic journals via mobile devices: A cognitive styles perspective

With the advancement of information technology, combining with electronic journals and mobile devices would produce ubiquitous electronic journals. However, there is a need to consider the usability evaluation because usability is a strong predictor of design issues. To satisfy individual needs, the effects of cognitive styles on usability inspection are investigated in this study. To this end, this study aimed to examine how different cognitive style groups perceive the interface design of an electronic journal. More specifically, Nielsen's ten heuristics (Hs) were applied to investigate user' perceptions. The results show that H8 was considered the most important heuristic by all users. The results also demonstrate that Holists who perceive excessive advertising may strongly need previous/next buttons while Serialists who feel this electronic journal provides too many advertising may consider that too much information is presented in the home page. The findings can be applied to support the development of individualized mobile electronic journals.