Eyetracking News Readers
http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/index.htm
This is an interesting project that used eye-tracking hardware and software from Eyetools to analyze web page viewing patterns. In part, their studies tell us web geeks a lot of things we already know, such as that users usually start scanning pages in the top left-hand corner and slowly track downward to end in the bottom right. But it also discovered some interesting things that flout certain conventional wisdom. For example, users read more text formatted in a single column than text in multiple columns - which contradicts the practice of some news sites that attempt to replicate the multi-column layout of print periodicals. The project tracked both news homepage design and article page design.
Thanks to Duane Gran and Beth Nowviskie for the link.
This is an interesting project that used eye-tracking hardware and software from Eyetools to analyze web page viewing patterns. In part, their studies tell us web geeks a lot of things we already know, such as that users usually start scanning pages in the top left-hand corner and slowly track downward to end in the bottom right. But it also discovered some interesting things that flout certain conventional wisdom. For example, users read more text formatted in a single column than text in multiple columns - which contradicts the practice of some news sites that attempt to replicate the multi-column layout of print periodicals. The project tracked both news homepage design and article page design.
Thanks to Duane Gran and Beth Nowviskie for the link.
posted by Nathan F. Piazza at 1:18 PM
2 Comments:
(posting from Duane Gran, one of the guilty parties for telling Nathan about the eye tracker)
We had a discussion in speclab about the eye tracker. Everyone was marveled at the pretty pictures, in particular the heat map showing the aggregate, but there was a big problem with the concept. What the eye sees and what the mind processes are not necessary as orthogonal as the eye tracker group would have us believe.
After an interesting discussion, where we put on our cognitive science hats as best as possible, we concluded that it might be a good additional measure to apply to the Patacritical Demon. This project is meant to illustrate how one interprets as reading*.
* As a lay person in humanities terms I am probably butchering this description, so corrections and expansion are welcome.
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