Exploring User Reactions to New Browser Cues for Extended Validation Certificates

With the introduction of Extended Validation SSL certificates in Internet Explorer 7.0, web browsers are introducing new indicators to convey status information about different types of certificates. The authors carried out a user study which compared a proposed new interface in the Mozilla Firefox browser with an alternative interface of their own design to investigate how users react to these new indicators. The authors' study included eye tracking data which provided empirical evidence with respect to which parts of the browser interface users tended to look at during the study and which areas went unnoticed.