N. Aykin (Ed.): Usability and Internationalization, Part II, HCII 2007, LNCS 4560, pp. 48–56, 2007. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007 Linguistic Analysis of Websites: A New Method of Analysing Language, the Poor Cousin of Usability Sabrina Duda, Michael Schiessl, Gerald Wildgruber, Christian Rohrer, and Paul Fu Eye square GmbH, Schlesische Str. 29-30, D-10997 Berlin, Germany duda@eye-square.com, schiessl@eye-square.com Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Seminar für Ästhetik, Sophienstr. 22 a, D-10178 Berlin, Germany gerald.wildgruber@rz.hu-berlin.de eBay User Experience Research, 2145 Hamilton Avenue, 96125 San Jose, CA, USA crohrer@ebay.com, pfu@ebay.com Abstract. While text and concepts have always been acknowledged as key players in effecting the overall impact of a website, language - much like an attention-deprived stepchild - has always been allocated a little side role. The following work introduces a method for linguistic analysis which enables usability experts to examine language on a website at its various layers, and to carry out a user study about users´ perception of language. The method will be illustrated by an eBay case study in Germany and China and will be equipped with concrete examples. These examples indicate that this method is indeed easy to apply and that when used together with the classic usability test, enhances the study results and allows for a strategic optimization of the website. Keywords: Linguistic Analysis, Usability, Web Usability, Usable Language, User Experience, User Test, Expert Analysis, Linguistics, Semiotics, Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics. 1 Introduction The increasingly user-centered development of websites have proven their impact: In terms of user-friendliness as well as in terms of graphic design and content, the quality of websites has in the last few years considerably gone up. And, in the web teams of big businesses these days, more and more psychologists are finding themselves working alongside linguists. The unambiguous and intelligible designation of links and clear operation instructions are essential to the user-friendliness of a website. However, the naming of links and labelling of buttons deal with only one layer of language – that of meaning (semantic layer). An example of a semantic analysis is the study conducted in 2003 by Paivo Laine who analyzed the language of hyperlink and buttons. All too often the diligence and care which should go into writing and shaping the text of websites are found to be lacking – supported of course by that well-known excuse that "online users do not read anyway". Indeed it is true that the manner with which people read the web differs greatly from the one with which they read books or