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FREE! Eyetracking and the Web
Then while I was surfing the Web I came across a reference to eyetracking, sure I've heard of it before, but combined with Linda's articles this prompted me to delve a little deeper and try to find out what eyetracking studies had been done on Web sites and what the implications to Web developers may be.
Here I aim to share what I've found in my brief investigation – feel free to share any of your insights by adding comments to the bottom of the article.
Eyetracking and the Web
While recently looking over some of the articles in Linda Goin's recent series Web Design Mysteries, I was struck by how much design I just completely overlook when I scan a Web page. Many of her insights, while familiar to a skilled artist like herself, were a complete revelation to me.
In fact even as I edit on a day-to-day basis I make use of display and design conventions all the time, but much of it operates at a subconscious level. For example some are cultural – I read and write from left to right and some have been decided for me (the DMXzone typeface was decided upon before my arrival), I embolden certain words to make them stand out.
Then, while I was surfing the Web, I came across a reference to eyetracking, sure I've heard of it before, but combined with Linda's articles this prompted me to delve a little deeper and try to find out what eyetracking studies had been done on Web sites and what the implications to Web developers may be (of course eyetracking has plenty of applications outside computing as well). I'll return to highlight a particularly relevant part of one of Linda's articles at the end.
Here I aim to share what I've found in my brief investigation – feel free to share any of your insights by adding comments to the bottom of the article.
A Bit of Eyetracking Background
So what is eyetracking?
Eyetracking is the monitoring of where a person is actually looking. It can be achieved by use of different types of technology including using cameras that follow a person's eye movements. As Eyetools – one of the leading companies involved in carrying out eyetracking investigations – tells us:
"Human eye movement is characterized by rapid movements to a location (saccades) followed by momentary pauses of the eye (fixations). Fixations typically last between 1/10 and 1/2 of a second, during which time the brain quickly processes the visual information perceived and then makes a (subconscious) decision as to what to look at next."
Quote taken from Eyetools website.
So, if you can follow a reader's eyes around a screen, you can start to understand what catches peoples' attention, where the best place on a page is to place certain types of content and how readers are reacting to your content.
As an example of eyetracking analysis check out this link, showing how a New York Times web page was scanned by a reader, and how the eyes scanned over the page alighting on many portions but only concentrating on a few.
Pros and Cons
Of course with any technique one has to appreciate its strengths and weaknesses – as this page indicates, eye tracking can help you to understand when a reader is scanning or reading, how interesting an item is, and whether a reader is trying to hunt down a piece of information on a page.
It can't actually tell you why a user looked at an item or even, if they looked at it, that they actually processed the information. Furthermore it may be tricky to assess the impact of peripheral vision.
Ian Blackham
Following a degree in Chemistry and a doctorate in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Ian spent several years wrestling with acronyms in industrial R&D (SEM with a side order of EDS, AFM and TEM augmented with a topping of XPS and SIMS and yet more SEM and TEM).
Feeling that he needed a career with more terminology but less high voltages, Ian became a technical/commissioning editor with Wrox Press working on books as diverse as Beg VB Application Development and Professional Java Security. After Wrox's dissolution and a few short term assignments Ian helped out with DMXzone's premium content section.
Ian is a refugee from the industrial Black Country having slipped across the border to live in Birmingham. In his spare time he helps out with the website of a local history society, tries to makes sure he does what his wife Kate says, and worries that the little 'un Noah is already more grown up than he is.