Just thought you might be interested to learn that according to some print professionals and members of the Business Forms Management Association (http://www.bfma.org), zebra striped paper (i.e. green paper) was introduced originally as a way for paper companies to increase market share for their product. That is, zebra striping was a way to differentiate Company A's paper from Company B's - there is no record of it being introduced for reasons of usability.
I stand by my assertion that whilst there are low level principles that support the use of zebra striping (e.g. the Gestalt Principles of Visual Perception), there has been no research to confirm that zebra striping actually helps, in either the paper or electronic medium. This lack of scientific research is important because what is helpful to you and I (and I certainly like zebra striping over plain), may be visual noise or otherwise problematic to another user. Those of you who follow Edward Tufte will know what I mean.
I believe it is healthy to carefully and impartially check our assumptions and habits. Data that supports our design decisions helps us justify them to stakeholders.
Regards,
Jessica
http://formulate.com.au/
Dear Joocemann
If you read the article or the research paper, you will see that participants were randomly assigned to either receive the plain table first or the striped table first.
Furthermore, my analysis combine the results of people who received the plain table first with those who received the striped table first, to control for the adaptation effect.
Regards,
Jessica http://formulate.com.au/
Dear Nguy
I agree with you wholeheartedly that failure to demonstrate a statistically significant difference does not mean that there isn't a real difference.
However, I never made such a claim. All I said that was that in this case, we didn't find any statistically significant difference. I propose that this is interesting, but not enough to necessarily justify not using zebra striping.
I vehemently disagree that only studies that find a statistically significant difference should be published. It is adding to the body of scientific knowledge to publish all results, provided they come valid and reliable studies.
Regards,
Jessica http://formulate.com.au/
Dear Acklenx
I'd be very keen to hear what holes you feel there are in my study, which was a within-groups experimental design.
Perhaps you would be willing to describe your concerns here?
Regards,
Jessica http://formulate.com.au/
Dear Uncomfortable Truth
If you read the article and my research paper, you will see that I recognise that this is only one data study and that I'm not suggesting that zebra striping be summarily ditched. Perhaps the Slashdot poster's summary is misleading in this way.
I have said publicly that there are many other attributes that need to be examined, using a statistically valid experimental design, in particular the issue of fatigue and the issue of horizonatal spacing.
Also, you may be interested to know that I am a self-employed forms designer, with a statistics, computer science, mathematics and psychology background. I was not paid by anyone to run the study, I did it out of my own interest and in my own time. I certainly did not contrive the design to get any particular results - in fact I expected to find that zebra striping did help and was looking forward to being able to give web developers a statistic on which they can justify the use of the technique.
Slashdot Mirror
Just thought you might be interested to learn that according to some print professionals and members of the Business Forms Management Association (http://www.bfma.org), zebra striped paper (i.e. green paper) was introduced originally as a way for paper companies to increase market share for their product. That is, zebra striping was a way to differentiate Company A's paper from Company B's - there is no record of it being introduced for reasons of usability.
I stand by my assertion that whilst there are low level principles that support the use of zebra striping (e.g. the Gestalt Principles of Visual Perception), there has been no research to confirm that zebra striping actually helps, in either the paper or electronic medium. This lack of scientific research is important because what is helpful to you and I (and I certainly like zebra striping over plain), may be visual noise or otherwise problematic to another user. Those of you who follow Edward Tufte will know what I mean.
I believe it is healthy to carefully and impartially check our assumptions and habits. Data that supports our design decisions helps us justify them to stakeholders.
Regards,
Jessica
http://formulate.com.au/
Dear Joocemann
If you read the article or the research paper, you will see that participants were randomly assigned to either receive the plain table first or the striped table first.
Furthermore, my analysis combine the results of people who received the plain table first with those who received the striped table first, to control for the adaptation effect.
Regards,
Jessica
http://formulate.com.au/
Dear Nguy
I agree with you wholeheartedly that failure to demonstrate a statistically significant difference does not mean that there isn't a real difference.
However, I never made such a claim. All I said that was that in this case, we didn't find any statistically significant difference. I propose that this is interesting, but not enough to necessarily justify not using zebra striping.
I vehemently disagree that only studies that find a statistically significant difference should be published. It is adding to the body of scientific knowledge to publish all results, provided they come valid and reliable studies.
Regards,
Jessica
http://formulate.com.au/
Dear Acklenx
I'd be very keen to hear what holes you feel there are in my study, which was a within-groups experimental design.
Perhaps you would be willing to describe your concerns here?
Regards,
Jessica
http://formulate.com.au/
Dear Uncomfortable Truth
If you read the article and my research paper, you will see that I recognise that this is only one data study and that I'm not suggesting that zebra striping be summarily ditched. Perhaps the Slashdot poster's summary is misleading in this way.
I have said publicly that there are many other attributes that need to be examined, using a statistically valid experimental design, in particular the issue of fatigue and the issue of horizonatal spacing.
Also, you may be interested to know that I am a self-employed forms designer, with a statistics, computer science, mathematics and psychology background. I was not paid by anyone to run the study, I did it out of my own interest and in my own time. I certainly did not contrive the design to get any particular results - in fact I expected to find that zebra striping did help and was looking forward to being able to give web developers a statistic on which they can justify the use of the technique.