That was just one of the many fascinating insights to be found in the Eyetrack III study focused on how people online. The study released, by the Poynter Institute, the Estlow Center for Journalism & New Media, included some observations worth considering when designing or writing website.
Here are just a few:
Size Matters
Want people to read, not scan? Consider small type. The Eyetrack III researchers found smaller type encourages focused viewing behavior (that is, actual reading), while larger type promotes lighter scanning.
Left, Left… Left, Right, Left
As unique as we all like to think we are, it simply isn’t true – at least not when it comes to the way we read/scan websites. Researchers found a common pattern among website browsers. It seems we fixate first on the upper left portion of the page before moving from left to right and it's only after perusing the top portion of the page for some time that people’s eyes explore further down the page.
It’s all About the Words
“Text rules on the PC screen -- both in order viewed and in overall time spent looking at," the study says.
People Read and Run
The study suggests people scan the first few words of headlines before deciding whether to continue reading. This means you should front-load your headlines with the most interesting and provocative words. It’s also an argument for getting your keywords up front in headlines.
Attention Spans are Getting Shorter
Online readers are demanding folk who will give you less than one second to convince them they should read further. That’s means you’ve got to hook them fast.
It’s Better at the Top
Navigation placed at the top of a homepage performed best -- that is, it was seen by the highest percentage of test subjects and looked at for the longest duration.
Shorter is Better
Shorter paragraphs performed better in the Eyetrack III research than longer ones. In fact stories with short paragraphs received twice as many overall eye fixations as those with longer ones.
Interested in reading the study? You can find it online at Writearm Writing & Communications.
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