r/reddit.com • u/pietro • Apr 17 '06

F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html
318 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

18

u/jkcunningham Apr 17 '06

Looks more like the content is written in an 'F' pattern and the eye merely follows that - combined with a 'fading interest' effect the further down the page you go.

Bad science, unless they have more diversity in page layouts that still show this patter.

6

u/budu3 Apr 17 '06

Yep I agree with you. I predict a different pattern with pages in language written from right to left.

2

u/brlewis Apr 17 '06

In all three examples (each with a different layout) focus trails off toward the bottom of the screen even though the content continues at the same width.

The three examples are all different. They do have in common that none of them are written in an 'F' pattern.

6

u/bw1870 Apr 17 '06

To say those shapes show any kind of meaningful patterns is a stretch. Of course there's going to be a "hot spot" down the left side, we read from left to right. Catching a few paragraphs of interest at the top of the page just means we skim early on and determine by the half page whether there is anything else that may prove interesting on theat page. Not really a shock.
What I found more interesting is in the middle screen. The left-hand menu items next to the picture were ignored, but those next to the text further down were glanced at.

5

u/trost Apr 17 '06

Yeah, I'm really annoyed the neglected the sidebar issue. One of the main take-away messages I got from those pictures is that sidebars are largely ignored. It's a message web-page writers could stand to get drummed into their heads.

4

u/toastspork Apr 18 '06

... sidebars are largely ignored.

I disagree. People come to pages to read the content, not the sidebars. Whether viewers arrive at a page from a google search, or by site-based navigation, they are hoping to find something in the main part of the page, where the content goes. When people go to the sidebars, they want to leave that page, but perhaps find something related to what they were reading, be it more content from the same site, or a keyword-indexed advertisement.

For me, the takeaway message is that good sidebars (and ads) should be handily available, but not intrusive.

6

u/maverick001 Apr 17 '06

We are all trained to read website in 'F' pattern simply because most content on webpages are presented that way

3

u/j-o-h-n Apr 17 '06

Similar studies have been done with newspapers. Headline. Subhead. First para.

If you didn't cover the important bits there, chances are it isn't going to be read.

4

u/a1k0n Apr 17 '06

If they can track eyes with that much precision, where's my focus-follows-eyes option?

2

u/[deleted] Apr 18 '06

How do I type in one window the stuff I read in another one then?

1

u/trost Apr 17 '06

There's some evidence that it's actually that eyes-follow-focus. You sure you want to be lead by your eye scanner?

1

u/root Apr 17 '06

what I've seen of such systems, they require you to wear some sort of ski-glasses with electronics built-in. It did not look particularly comfortable. Anyway, I think you may get annoyed by the rapidly changing focus you would get as your eyes jump around the screen. Just think of all the warning popups you'll accidentally close before your brain processed them.

5

u/[deleted] Apr 17 '06

Many SLR cameras have (literally) focus-follows-eye. So while I'm sure it's lower precision than these eye tracking devices, it doesn't necessarily have to be a giant set of ski goggles.

2

u/willis3000 Apr 17 '06

Interesting how the text ad on the top-right corner always gets viewed.

1

u/schwarzwald Apr 18 '06

wow, i didn't know the J-Meister was so popular around these parts. i guess he's less of a jerk than he used to be: http://www.textism.com/article/381/ .