The tremendous progress of computer and IT techonology enables people to communicate and exchange information with other people in the internet by new means of two-way communication and user participation which may be the key factor of Web 2.0. Many... The tremendous progress of computer and IT techonology enables people to communicate and exchange information with other people in the internet by new means of two-way communication and user participation which may be the key factor of Web 2.0. Many useful websites in the cyber space help users to access valuable information beyond time and space limitations. And the function and role of website become more important, as time goes by. Therefore, it is very important to evaluate and improve continuously our website to the purpose. And moreover the proper evaluation of websites also suggest some effective and efficient methods regarding website improvement. A website can be evaluated with many factors affecting the degree of the website such as information quality, usability, user interface, navigation, and so on, naturally considering its objectives or specific goals. Many previous studies show that these website evaluation factors will influence the user satisfaction and revisit to the website. This study compares the websites in Korea with the ones in China which is one of the biggest korean trade partners. Through the components affecting on the website degree, empirical analysis was done in the present study on the 6 websites in Korea and China which is Naver, Daum, Aura, Sina, Wangyi, and Youku. The website evaluation criteria from the previous studies related to the website evaluation can be classified into five assessment criteria which are design, contents, user interface, reliability, and site management. But the business function which can be applied to shopping malls was excluded for the general application of this study. A research model is designed, using these website evaluation factors, and some verifications are set up and examined. The comparative analysis between websites in Korea and China is made with the statistical techniques of t-test, ANOVA, and MDS(multidimensional scaling) to test for differences between two groups. In the results, some significant suggestions was found out as follows. First, the supposed verification says that there is mostly a significant difference between Korean and Chinese websites on each above-mentioned assessment criterion. In particular, Korean websites is relatively superior to Chinese ones in design, contents, and user interface, but reliability and site management is almost the same. Second, the comparative analysis about design and user interface factors shows almost the same results. Therefore the two categories can be combined as one. It means that total layout and design components in a website are tightly linked to the user interface ones. It may be said that the website becomes more competitive, as the degree of design and user interface is higher. Design and user interface may be called as competitive factors of a website and it can also be said that they make the website distinguishable. Third, the study reveals that the contents and reliability on the websites are not distinctive between websites. They are almost the same regadless of website purpose because they become prerequisite to website operation and management. That's why every website must fully consider the basic contents and components related to reliability in the process of development or implementation. They are not competitive factors, may be said as uncompetitive factors which don't make websites differentiated. In other words, the results reveals that the assessment factors of design and user interface especially determines the website degree. But contents and reliability almost don't affect the website level. Fourth, The Korean and Chinese are different from the evaluation of websites. Koreans say that there is some difference between Korean and Chinese websites according to five assessment factors, but Chinese say that the surveyed websites are almost the same in every respect. It may be caused by the different level of IT culture and familiarity. But they both tells the similar group among six websites on each evaluation factor. Website managers often doubt whether their website is built properly and want to see how it can be improved to attract more visitors. So the website evaluation is made for the purpose of answering these questions. Most of all, managers must critically examine sites to determine design, contents, user interface, reliability, and site management to purpose. This study may aid webmasters in some useful hints to modify and improve their websites. The key result of this study is that the most important factors of website evaluation are design and user interface which may be seen as one in the user perception and said as competitive factors. Therefore, an evaluator can make a comparison among websites or differ one site from the other only in design or user interface. This study suggests that it is more desirable to consider or evaluate a website in order of design, user interface, contents, site management, and reliability. Furthermore, the used methods in this study may be applicable to the new website-improving approach of website administrators and researchers, and similar further researches will make this study more accepted or general. When applying these study results in practice, the webmasters have to design and develop their website with full arms of uncompetitive factors such as contents, reliability, community, and personalization. After that, they have to make everyday efforts in managing and improving their website from the viewpoint of design and user interface, that is, usability or ease to use and navigate.
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