Cognitive metaphor
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The cognitive metaphor of a website is the association of the site concept to an experience outside of a site's environment. It is used to enhance the level of comfort the user experiences using the website since this association relates the navigational schemes, processes, and informational areas of a site to something familiar. For example, a tabbed metaphor can be used in a site for organization of information because users can relate the site's organization to that of using a file drawer of tabbed file folders. This relationship between the file drawer containing folders allows a user who is unfamiliar with a website to navigate it comfortably and with less aggravation.
