Why is eyetracking important?
The results from eyetracking studies - fast scanning and consistent, distinctive reading patterns - has important implications for how content is written for the web. It's not just that people read less, or more, on screens than they do using printed media. It is deeper than that. In fact:
- users read websites in a qualitatively different way from the way they read books and other printed media
Eyetracking is a hugely important technique because - unlike most methods of research - it very clearly and graphically illustrates actual user behaviour. The data it produces is highly quantitative, and therefore clean of any potential subjective bias. Websites that fail to take this fundamental aspect of human behaviour into consideration will haemorrhage users.
Many of the "intuitions" that people hold about website design have been proved true using eyetracking studies, e.g. shorter paragraphs are better (qua received more eye fixations) than long paragraphs. Equally, some dearly held opinions have been found to be untrue, e.g. the belief that navigation menus on the right side of the page work less well than those on the left.
Eyetracking does require specialised equipment, and cannot be performed by the layperson without such equipment, but the cost and availability of the technology have fallen and risen in step, bringing the technique well within the budget reach of most organisations committed to user-centred design.
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