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Since websites are developed and maintained by different cultures, web page design may be influenced by the originating culture. This study examines the usage of design attributes between Australian, Chinese, and Saudi Arabian cultures. This study used automated and manual techniques to investigate design attributes including layout, navigation, links, multimedia, visual representation, colour, and text. Significant differences were found in each of the listed design attributes, suggesting that different interfaces may be needed for successful communication with different cultural groups. The results of this study confirm and extend prior research and anthropological models. The contribution of this study is the scale (460 websites in total) and breadth (seven design attributes) of the research. It also provides revised insights into culture and website design and the concept of cultural translation of web content. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To better fulfil customer satisfaction, a study of what content e-business web sites should contain is conducted. Based on background literature, a content preparation survey of 70 items was developed and completed by 428 white collar employees of an electronic company in mainland China. The survey aimed at examining the significant content factors of e-business web sites. The results of the study indicated a 0.75% internal consistency of the survey. Factor analysis of the data indicated 15 main content factors for e-business web sites, which accounted for 60.1% of total variance. The factors, in order of importance, are security content, quality content, service content, appearance description, contact information, aid function, customised function, search function, product specification, purchasing aid, price content, detailed description, comment content, matching product, review content. This study concludes with guidelines for the design of content preparation of e-business web sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]