Impacts of culture on web usability

This paper describes an experimental study examining the impacts of
culture on web site design and usability, in terms of localisation and
internationalisation. A pilot study has been undertaken to determine the
effectiveness of the research design, methodology and the following
enhancements for a much larger study, addressing the cultural differences among
people and issues in relation to the localisation/internationlisation of web sites.
The rationale is to investigate whether web sites are useful for specific cultural
groups or for a general population of users. This paper presents an overview of the
experimental study and reports on the results of a main study phase.