A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Advanced Technologies

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2001

Despite the rapid development of the Web as a tool for business, some problems have arisen in accessing the Web. At first impression, the web interface should be well designed based on user needs in order to access effectively and conveniently. Little research has been done on web assessment, especially on web design. There exists a need to develop new approaches to evaluate the Web. Using Self Organizing Map (SOM), is carried out to group Webs, specifically agricultural commerce Web sites according to design similarity. Input data consists of user evaluation produced from a survey of one hundred respondents using nine criteria on web design. The criteria are ease of use, currency, presentation, navigation, assistance, security, page loading, accuracy, and content. The SOM was run with varying parameters to obtain an optimal map and to study the effect of the parameters. The techniques of Web clustering and interpretation of the maps are described in detail. The results illustrate that selected webs are typically user friendly. About 20%-30% of the webs satisfy user needs. Improvements are still needed in some elements, i.e. currency, accuracy, navigation, security, and assistance.