The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of different types of web page design on browsers' attitudes, figure out if the information processing styles play the moderating roles, and examine the relationship between attitude towards the web page and visit intention. Three web pages are designed specially for this research. They are created in different types, words only, pictures only, and combination of words and pictures. Respondents are undergraduate students, and answer questionnaires online. SPSS 14 is used to perform statistical analyses. Principal findings are summarized as follows. First, there is no significant difference between high and low NFC individuals about attitude towards the web page when the tourism web page presents in words (all-verbal) design. However, when the web page is only composed of pictures without any written description, NFC individuals, without respect to high or low NFC, show much lower level of attitude towards the web page and no differences appear between them. Second, the statistical analysis shows a higher level of attitude towards the web page is associated to high PFA individuals, compared with low PFA individuals, when the tourism web page presents in pictures (all-visual) design. When the tourism web page presents in words design, high and low PFA individuals show much lower level of attitude towards the web page and no differences appear between them. Third, we find that individuals with high NFC and high PFA are significantly different from the other groups when the tourism web page presents in combination (words and pictures) design. They show higher level of attitude towards the web page, compared with the other processor groups. Lastly, result shows that there is a positive correlation between attitude towards the web page and visit intention. Attitude towards the web page has a significant impact on visit intention, namely, higher level of Awp, then higher level of VI.

This study attempted to combine the benefits of multimedia learning, adaptive interfaces, and learning style theory by constructing a novel e-learning environment. The environment was designed to accommodate individual learning styles while students progressed through a computer programming course. Despite the benefits of individualised instruction and a growing worldwide e-learning market, there is a paucity of guidance on how to effectively accommodate learning styles in an online environment. Several existing learning-style adaptive environments base their behaviour on an initial assessment of the learner's profile, which is then assumed to remain stable. Consequently, these environments rarely offer the learner choices between different versions of content. However, these choices could cater for flexible learning styles, promote cognitive flexibility, and increase learner control. The first research question underlying the project asked how learning styles could be accommodated in an adaptive e-learning environment. The second question asked whether a dynamically adaptive environment that provides the learner with a choice of media experiences is more beneficial than a statically adapted environment. To answer these questions, an adaptive e-learning environment named iWeaver was created and experimentally evaluated. iWeaver was based on an introductory course in Java programming and offered learning content as style-specific media experiences, assisted by additional learning tools. These experiences and tools were based on the perceptual and information processing dimension of an adapted version of the Dunn and Dunn learning styles model. An experimental evaluation of iWeaver was conducted with 63 multimedia students. The analysis investigated the effect of having a choice of multiple media experiences (compared to having just one static media experience) on learning gain, enjoyment, perceived progress, and motivation. In addition to these quantitative measurements, learners provided qualitative feedback at the end of each lesson. Data from 27 participants were sufficiently complete to be analysed. For the data analysis, participants were divided into two groups of high and low interest in programming and Java, then into two groups of high and low experience with computers and the Internet. Both group comparisons revealed statistically significant differences for the effect of choice. Having a choice of media experiences proved beneficial for learners with low experience but detrimental for learners with high experience or interest. These findings suggest that the effect of choice appears to be strongly influenced by the learner's background. It is hypothesised that encouraging a more active learner role in educational systems would expand the positive influence of choice to a wider range of learners. The study has contributed some weight to the argument that for certain groups of learners, it is more beneficial to view learning style as a flexible, rather than a stable construct. As a practical implication, it seems advisable to collect data on prior experience, interest, and the initial learning style distribution of the target audience before developing environments comparable to iWeaver. [See http://www.adaptive-learning.net/research/media.htm for media files associated with this thesis.]