For this weeks blog I want to discuss an interesting study done by Nielsen Norman Group on eye tracking. This study, recorded how 232 users looked at thousands of web pages across many different genres. The study found that users often read web pages in an F-shaped pattern. Here are the different components for the patterns that users demonstrated:
- Users first read in a horizontal movement at the top of the page. This makes the top stripe on the F.
- Next, users move down the page and then read across in a second horizontal movement. This covers a shorter area usually and makes up the second stripe on the F.
- Finally, users scan the left side of a web page in a vertical movement. Sometimes this is a fairly slow and systematic scan that appears as a solid stripe on an eye tracking heat map.
The F viewing pattern is more just a general shape rather than a perfect Sans Serif F that is pictured above. The study also showed some users who read across a third line further down the page, which formed more of an E shape. This F shaped pattern has implications and means that designers should stick to guidelines when writing for the web.
Guidelines
- Keep your text short because users wont read it thoroughly.
- Put your most important information in the first two paragraphs.
- The first two words in headings, bullet points, subheads, or paragraphs should contain words. Users will read the third word on a line much less often than the first two words.
All information from this blog comes from F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content by Jakob Nielsen. Click here to read the article.
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