Eye tracking, the process of measuring eye movements to test how people read websites, is not a new concept. More importantly, the results of these tests provided a strong guideline for a creative and effective Web design.

Unfortunately, many Web sites have either failed to understand this concept or ignored it for the sake of creativity. I hope this post will help you understand its significance.

The F-Shaped Pattern
The multiple tests conducted by Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen show that majority of users follow a dominant reading pattern resembling the letter F. Here are some samples from Nielsen and its interpretations:

Users first read in a horizontal movement, usually across the upper part of the content area. This initial element forms the F’s top bar.

Next, users move down the page a bit and then read across in a second horizontal movement that typically covers a shorter area than the previous movement. This additional element forms the F’s lower bar.

Finally, users scan the content’s left side in a vertical movement. Sometimes this is a fairly slow and systematic scan that appears as a solid stripe on an eyetracking heatmap. Other times users move faster, creating a spottier heatmap. This last element forms the F’s stem.

It basically means that the attention span of online readers is very short so they only scan your contents. So, it is very important to put the key elements of your Web site like logo design and company information within the said pattern to get grab attention quickly. Using bullet points and sub-heads are also very helpful.

You can visit our Web design portfolio to see good examples of high quality and professional-looking designs.

Via downloadsquad

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 1:18 pm and is filed under web development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.