Michigan Web Design Blog

Web Ascender has quickly summarized the important information from a recent eye-tracking study. During an eye-tracking study, a focus group of normal computer users are asked to use a special computer outfitted with a camera to browse some websites. This computer can track the location of the user's mouse and what they click on.  Special cameras pointed at the users face are used to determine where the user is looking on the website at any given time.  Participants in the study also take a survey and the information from the surveys and the computer data are aggregated to form some hypotheses about website performance and usability.

Here are 20+ lessons learned from a recent study:

• Ads in the top and left portions of a page will receive the most attention.
• Ads placed next to the best content are seen more often.
• Bigger images get more attention.
• Clean, clear faces in images attract more eye fixation.
• Fancy formatting and fonts are ignored.
• Formatting can draw attention.
• Headings draw the eye.
• Initial eye movement focuses on the upper left corner of the page.
• Large blocks of text are avoided.
• Lists hold reader attention longer.
• Navigation tools work better when placed at the top of the page.
• One-column formats perform better in eye-fixation than multi-column formats.
• People generally scan lower portions of the page.
• Readers ignore banners.
• Shorter paragraphs perform better than long ones.
• Show numbers as numerals.
• Text ads were viewed mostly intently of all types tested.
• Text attracts attention before graphics.
• Type size influences viewing behavior.
• Users initially look at the top left and upper portion of the page before moving down and to the right.
• Users only look at a sub headline if it interests them.
• Users spend a lot of time looking at buttons and menus.
• White space is good.

Thanks to Seth Godin for working on this list, and to Tim who was involved in the original study.