Here’s an interesting article at Online Journalism Review about the use of eyetracking to aid web design. Much of the information is intuitive or common knowledge, but here are some amusing take-aways:

More white space and shorter line length. Brevity and judicious formatting go a long way. Both of these lessened the amount of attention given to an article on a web page, but increased information retention.

Solid, informational headlines. When a user arrives on a page, especially from a search engine, they first look for confirmation they should stay. A key element of that decision is whether the page contains the sought-after information, so they try to find and read the headline before reading further. Obviously, it’s really important to have a well-written, appealing headline prominently displayed that sells the entire story.

Lead the eye to important information. Pretty images, ads, and other elements can easily confuse users and hinder them from finding the important content. But conversely:

Photos edited for relevance = photos viewed. Images directly related to the content are viewed more often. Images of people get more attention, especially those of faces looking directly at the viewer.

Men also had a tendency to look at “private anatomy” - even animals - while women tend to look just at faces. No mention of cats, although now I’m creeped out by the thought of men looking at a cat’s unmentionables.

Anyhow, I find it interesting to read articles of this nature in my quest to improve what I do at work and this blog.

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